According to Syrian official media and a rescue group operating in the opposition-held northwest, the death toll in Syria as a result of a severe earthquake has topped 2,600.
The White Helmets rescue organization announced on Twitter that there had been more than 1,280 fatalities and more than 2,600 injuries in areas controlled by the enemy.
Due to the fact that hundreds of families are still buried beneath the rubble more than 50 hours after the earthquake, the figure is anticipated to considerably increase, according to the White Helmets.
According to the health minister of Syria, 1,350 people have died in areas of the nation controlled by the government, according to a report on the state-run Al-Ikhbariya news outlet’s Telegram channel. 2,054 people were hurt, he claimed.
The war-torn nation has appealed to the UN and all of its members for assistance with rescue operations, medical care, shelter, and food supplies.
The U.N. released $25 million from its emergency fund to help launch the humanitarian response in Turkey and Syria, saying it is “exploring all avenues” to get supplies to opposition-held northwest Syria.
The road from Turkey to northern Syria’s Bab al-Hawa border crossing was damaged, according to U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, temporarily impeding the delivery of aid to the areas controlled by the opposition. The border crossing “is actually intact,” he claimed.
U.N. aid is only permitted to enter the region through Bab al-Hawa.
According to Dujarric, the U.N. is assembling a convoy to cross the Syrian conflict lines. However, that would probably necessitate a fresh arrangement with Bashar Assad’s administration, which has been laying siege to areas controlled by the opposition throughout the civil war.
Syrian refugees make up more than 1.7 million of the 15 million people living in the ten regions affected by the earthquake in Turkey, according to Dujarric.
According to Stephen Allen, head of the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) disaster response team, humanitarian organizations that are U.S. partners are already providing emergency assistance to earthquake victims in Syria, including areas that are still under the control of the opposition.
Strong tremors were felt earlier on Monday across Syria’s Idlib, Aleppo, Hama, Latakia, and Raqqa provinces, according to the state-run SANA news agency.
In the opposition-held parts of northern Syria, where rescue workers are desperately looking for survivors, hundreds of structures were also demolished or damaged.
According to Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, more than 6,234 people have already perished in the country’s two earthquakes of magnitude 7.7 and 7.6. (AFAD).
Both earthquakes, according to the organization, had their epicenters in the southern province of Kahramanmaraş.
