Rescue crews in Turkey and Syria are racing against time Thursday and a lack of equipment to find survivors buried in the rubble of buildings toppled by powerful earthquakes that struck the region Monday and left more than 16,000 people dead so far. Turkey’s disaster management agency (AFAD) said today that about 110,000 personnel are involved in rescue efforts and 5,500 vehicles such as tractors, cranes, bulldozers and excavators have been shipped to assist the country reeling from the earthquake.
The world is plagued by further humanitarian crises that should neither be forgotten nor neglected. Though DONARE presently does not compile a complete crisis profile, here are snapshots of some of these humanitarian situations. The emergency situations include: the hunger crisis in Southern Africa due to historic drought, the crisis in Madagascar due to ongoing food insecurity and vulnerability to climate-related disasters; the crisis in Malawi due to drought and flooding; and the ongoing crisis in the Western Sahara.
A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake has shocked wide parts of Turkey and Syria early Monday, destroying thousands of buildings and killing more than 2,700 people, with hundreds more believed to be trapped under the rubble. The epicenter of the pre-dawn earthquake was near Gaziantep, close to the Turkish-Syrian border. It was followed by a separate magnitude 7.5 earthquake about 100 kilometers north of the first one in the early afternoon.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director, David Beasley, has appealed to the world to invest in the Syrian people and communities to get them on their feet and off food assistance. During a visit to Syria on Friday, Beasley said that 12 million people in the country do not know where their next meal is coming from, while an additional 2.9 million are at risk of sliding into hunger.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has unanimously decided Monday to extend the use of the Bab al-Hawa border crossing for the delivery of aid into north-west Syria for six months, as Russia did not veto the resolution. Humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) expressed relieve following the decision, which provides a lifeline to millions of Syrians residing in areas outside government control during winter.
United Nations agency chiefs have urged the UN Security Council to renew a resolution guaranteeing cross-border aid access to north-west Syria, warning that without it, millions of people, especially those displaced for years and multiple times, will not have access to food and shelter. The appeal came in a written statement Monday signed by the heads of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, International Organization for Migration, UN Children's Fund, World Food Programme, World Health Organization, UN Refugee Agency, and UN Population Fund.
A renewed escalation of the conflict in northern Syria could worsen the suffering of millions of people struggling to cope with a dire humanitarian situation in the country's twelve-year crisis, the Syria International NGO Regional Forum (SIRF) warned in a statement Thursday. The international group of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) dedicated to the Syria crisis is calling on all warring parties to refrain from further escalation and protect civilians.
The Norwegian Government is providing an additional NOK 51 million (4.8 million EUR) to support humanitarian efforts to help the Syrian population, which is in dire need of assistance. According to a statement by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, released Thursday, the additional allocation will bring Norway’s funding for life-saving assistance in Syria in 2022 to approximately NOK 750 million (71 million EUR).
The Syrian conflict is one of the largest and most complex humanitarian crises worldwide, inflicting enormous human suffering on people inside and outside the country. Since 2011, hundreds of thousands of Syrians have been killed and maimed, and millions have been forced to flee their homes. On December 8, 2024, Syria experienced a dramatic and historic turn of events when rebel forces took control of the capital Damascus and President Bashar Assad resigned and fled the country following a swift 11-day rebel offensive across the country, raising hopes of an end to the nearly 14-year civil war.
