ZSix trucks with aid supplies from the United Nations arrived on Thursday to support the earthquake victims in north-west Syria, who are difficult to reach. The transporters started from Turkey and passed through the only open border crossing, Bab al-Hawa, according to the UN. Trucks have not been able to reach Bab al-Hawa due to damage to roads. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the roads have now been partially repaired.
Even before the earthquake, the Bab al-Hawa border crossing was a lifeline for around 4.5 million people in areas in the northwest of the country not controlled by the Syrian government. According to the UN, 90 percent of the population there were already dependent on humanitarian aid before the disaster. Millions of people displaced by fighting in Syria live in the region. Adding to their suffering are poor nutrition, cholera, cold winter weather and now the aftermath of the earthquakes.
Bab al-Hawa is the only open border crossing from Turkey to northern Syria, originally four. Even before the earthquake, the Syrian government wanted humanitarian aid to flow completely through the areas it controlled in order to deprive the rebels in the north of further resources. Now she’s asking for it again. With aid deliveries and payments to the government, there were repeated reports that the government enriched itself and used the goods as a means of power in the civil war.
Activists had previously reported that although no aid was being transported after the earthquake, the bodies of Syrians from Turkey were being transported through the border crossing instead. Millions of Syrian refugees live in Turkey. The Syrian border authorities published photos of minibuses from which body bags were transferred to other vehicles. According to the authority, more than 300 bodies of Syrians have come to Syria via Bab al-Hawa since the earthquake on Monday.
Hope for survivors is fading
More than three days after the catastrophic earthquake, hope is dwindling for the last survivors and the death toll continues to rise. Tens of thousands of victims are probably still to be feared under the rubble of the many thousands of collapsed buildings in both countries. So far, more than 16,000 deaths have been reported. There are also more than 66,000 injured in Turkey and Syria.
The rescue workers are fighting against time. With every hour that has passed since the quake, the chances of finding survivors under the rubble are decreasing. According to the government, more than 100,000 helpers are deployed in Turkey. They are assisted by search dogs.
Early Monday morning, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 according to the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) shook the Turkish-Syrian border area. Another earthquake of magnitude 7.6 followed in the same region on Monday afternoon.
In Turkey, there are now 12,873 confirmed dead and 62,937 injured, the civil protection authority Afad said on Thursday night, according to the Anadolu news agency. According to the Syrian state agency Sana and the rescue organization White Helmets, around 3,200 people died in the quake in Syria.
8000 people could be saved in Turkey so far
According to the TRT World broadcaster, around 8,000 people have been rescued from the rubble in Turkey so far. A reporter from the TV channel reported on the desperate fight against time: “The rescuers refuse to give up.” But the moments of joy about another rescue were becoming increasingly rare.
Nevertheless, there are still small reports of success: emergency services rescued a mother and her two children after 78 hours from under the rubble. Pictures showed on Thursday how helpers carried the woman and children to the ambulance on a couch and in slings. They had been persevering under the rubble of their home in Kahramanmaras province. The helpers hugged each other. One told broadcaster CNN Türk that he was happy with the small success. They worked for 15 hours to free the family.
50 tons of relief supplies from the German Bundeswehr
The Bundeswehr wants to fly around 50 tons of relief supplies to the region on Thursday. A first plane took off in the morning from Wunstorf in Lower Saxony. Teams from various aid organizations had previously flown to Turkey.
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