Humanitarian organizations have issued urgent appeals for immediate aid to assist the victims of the earthquake that struck northwestern Syria. Despite ongoing search and rescue operations, conditions remain challenging, with over 75 hours having passed since the earthquake’s occurrence.
Huda Al-Atassi, the regional director of the International Humanitarian Relief, stated that the situation in northwestern Syria is a humanitarian catastrophe, surpassing even the horrors experienced during the war waged by the Assad regime against the Syrian people.
Al-Atassi emphasized that the current number of search and rescue teams is inadequate to address the disaster and called for additional teams and necessary equipment to be sent. There are still no accurate estimates of the number of missing persons trapped beneath the rubble. Al-Atassi expressed her disbelief at the international community’s silence and inaction in providing aid to the earthquake-affected areas in northwestern Syria.
Bulent Yildirim, the head of the Turkish IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, has also appealed to the world to come to the aid of the thousands of Syrians trapped in the aftermath of the earthquake. Yildirim highlighted that the Syrian people have already suffered for 12 years and their pain has now been compounded by the devastating earthquake. He stressed the urgent need for more aid to be directed towards the earthquake-affected areas in northwestern Syria.
According to the Syrian Civil Defense, the death toll from the earthquake has risen to over 1,900 fatalities and over 2,950 injuries, and is expected to increase significantly as hundreds of families remain trapped beneath the rubble of destroyed buildings and homes.
(Source: SOC’s Media Department)
