Top UN Aid Official: Quake Response in Syria Faces Obstacles

People gather as rescuers search for survivors under the rubble, following an earthquake, in rebel-held town of Jandaris, Syria, February 6. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
People gather as rescuers search for survivors under the rubble, following an earthquake, in rebel-held town of Jandaris, Syria, February 6. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
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Top UN Aid Official: Quake Response in Syria Faces Obstacles

People gather as rescuers search for survivors under the rubble, following an earthquake, in rebel-held town of Jandaris, Syria, February 6. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
People gather as rescuers search for survivors under the rubble, following an earthquake, in rebel-held town of Jandaris, Syria, February 6. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

A top UN humanitarian official said damage to roads, fuel shortages and harsh winter weather in Syria were hampering the agency's response to an earthquake on Monday that killed more than 1,200 in the country and left millions in need of aid.

The huge tremor, which also left more than 2,300 people dead in Türkiye, sent people rushing into the streets in Syria's north, where past airstrikes and shelling have already traumatized the population and weakened many buildings.

"The infrastructure is damaged, the roads that we used to use for humanitarian work are damaged, we have to be creative in how to get to the people... but we are working hard," UN resident coordinator El-Mostafa Benlamlih told Reuters in an interview via video link from Damascus.

Even before the magnitude 7.8 quake struck in the early hours of Monday morning, the UN estimated that more than 4 million people in northwest Syria, many displaced by the 12-year conflict and living in camps, depended on cross-border aid.

While Syrian frontlines have been largely frozen for years, a deepening economic crisis has exacted a heavy toll across the fractured nation, leading to fuel shortages, increased power cuts and growing deprivation.

The United Nations says the number of people in need of humanitarian support is greater than at any point since the war began, with 70% of the population requiring aid.

And that was before the quake struck.

Now, "they are the same people - suffering more," Benlamlih said.

He noted that many people whose homes had been destroyed were spending the night sleeping out in the open or in cars, often in freezing temperatures, without adequate access to basic items like jackets and mattresses.

He said the United Nations was working to mobilize all the aid it could to the affected zones - both in government-held and opposition-held areas - as quickly as possible.

But international support is stretched and underfunded.

The UN received less than half of the $4.4 billion it required from donors to meet growing needs in 2022, and if that trend continues, Benlamlih said prospects for a recovery from the Syrian crisis could dim.

"Whatever we have, we are using it for now. And hopefully we will be able to get that replenished for the normal needs," Benlamlih said.

"When we are getting less than 50% of funding, it's not that we managed.. The number of the people in need keep increasing and the crisis keeps deepening."



Gaza: Polio Vaccine Campaign Kicks off a day Before Expected Pause in Fighting

A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a hospital in Khan Younis, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a hospital in Khan Younis, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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Gaza: Polio Vaccine Campaign Kicks off a day Before Expected Pause in Fighting

A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a hospital in Khan Younis, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a hospital in Khan Younis, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A campaign to inoculate children in Gaza against polio and prevent the spread of the virus began on Saturday, Gaza's Health Ministry said, as Palestinians in both the Hamas-governed enclave and the occupied West Bank reeled from Israel's ongoing military offensives.

Children in Gaza began receiving vaccines, the health ministry told a news conference, a day before the large-scale vaccine rollout and planned pause in fighting agreed to by Israel and the UN World Health Organization. The WHO confirmed the larger campaign would begin Sunday.

“There must be a ceasefire so that the teams can reach everyone targeted by this campaign,” said Dr. Yousef Abu Al-Rish, deputy health minister, describing scenes of sewage running through crowded tent camps in Gaza.

Associated Press journalists saw about 10 infants receiving vaccine doses at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.

Israel is expected to pause some operations in Gaza on Sunday to allow health workers to administer vaccines to some 650,000 Palestinian children. Officials said the pause would last at least nine hours and is unrelated to ongoing cease-fire negotiations.

“We will vaccinate up to 10-year-olds and God willing we will be fine,” said Dr. Bassam Abu Ahmed, general coordinator of public health programs at Al-Quds University.

The vaccination campaign comes after the first polio case in 25 years in Gaza was discovered this month. Doctors concluded a 10-month-old had been partially paralyzed by a mutated strain of the virus after not being vaccinated due to fighting.

Healthcare workers in Gaza have been warning of the potential for a polio outbreak for months. The humanitarian crisis has deepened during the war that broke out after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were militants.

Hours earlier, the Health Ministry said hospitals received 89 dead on Saturday, including 26 who died in an overnight Israeli bombardment, and 205 wounded — one of the highest daily tallies in months.