10 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Mirjana Spoljaric, has demanded this Friday from the Syrian city of Aleppo (north) “total” access to humanitarian aid to “all areas” affected by the earthquakes registered on Monday in southern Turkey, near the common border.
“It is imperative that we have full humanitarian access to all affected areas. Humanitarian action must not be interrupted. It is a vital opportunity to depoliticize aid,” said Spoljaric, who stressed that “saving lives must be the priority collective”.
“It is difficult to find words to describe the level of loss, suffering and destruction that we have seen and heard about. My heart goes out to all those who have lost loved ones in Syria and Turkey,” Spoljaric said, before stressing that “the fact that this earthquake took place in a region torn apart by war is nothing short of a catastrophe.”
Thus, he has indicated that “people are exhausted and scared” and has stated that “their resilience has been shredded after years of conflict.” “In many places like Aleppo, people had just started to return home to rebuild their lives. Now they have to survive in freezing temperatures and with nothing,” she lamented.
“The basic services necessary to maintain drinking water, heating, medical care and electricity were extremely weak before the earthquake. The humanitarian situation is even more serious today,” he said, adding that the ICRC “will do everything possible to support people, whoever they are and wherever they are.”
Spoljaric has also paid tribute to “volunteers and rescue teams” who work “day and night” to “save lives.” “His continued efforts to help people hit by this disaster and the impacts of years of conflict are remarkable.”
For her part, Save the Children’s Director of Advocacy and Communication in Syria, Kathryn Achilles, stated that “the situation in northwestern Syria is unlike any other crisis in the world right now.” “From the loss of family and homes to the lack of food and clean water, the effects of this disaster have affected each and every child,” she said.
In this sense, he stressed that the United Nations humanitarian aid convoy that arrived in the area on Thursday “will provide vital assistance to desperate children and families, but these supplies are just the tip of the iceberg of what is needed.” “More efforts are needed to ensure that all minors receive the assistance they desperately need,” she explained.
Anwar, a humanitarian worker from an organization with which the NGO collaborates in northwest Syria, has stressed that the situation in Idlib is “tragic”. “The need is immense and exceeds the current capacities of local Syrian humanitarian organizations in northern Syria,” he stressed.
“We hope that everyone will continue to help to support the many families who are still on the streets, be it in Idlib or in the surrounding cities. We hope that international organizations and the international community will help us overcome this crisis, this disaster, and help us bring in heavy machinery, help those who are still trapped under the rubble, help those who are still alive and provide them with medical assistance,” he said.
Regarding the situation in Turkish territory, the coordinator of the Save the Children Emergency Response Team in Turkey, Berna Koroglu, highlighted that the city of Antioquia “has been annihilated by earthquakes”. “People we meet tell us they have nothing left in the city and they just want to leave,” she recounted.
“They sleep in cars or in makeshift shelters, there are no toilets or running water. Without toilets, people have no choice but to relieve themselves in the open, which can lead to waterborne diseases such as cholera, typhoid or dysentery, which are especially deadly for boys and girls,” he said.
“The affected regions urgently need humanitarian aid. The international community must do everything possible to support local humanitarian efforts, in order to prevent a second humanitarian disaster from occurring,” he concluded.
