World Well being Group chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday visited areas of rebel-held northwestern Syria that have been devastated by final month’s earthquake, an AFP correspondent reported. Tedros, the highest-ranking United Nations official to go to Syria’s rebel-held zones for the reason that February 6 quake, had travelled to government-controlled areas of Aleppo and Damascus the week of the catastrophe.
He entered Syria on Wednesday from neighbouring Turkey by way of the Bab al-Hawa crossing and visited a number of hospitals and a shelter for these displaced, the correspondent mentioned.
Within the aftermath of the quake, activists and emergency groups within the rebel-held northwest decried the UN’s sluggish response, contrasting it with the planeloads of humanitarian support which have been delivered to government-controlled airports.
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A complete of 258 planes laden with support have reached regime-controlled areas, 129 of them from the United Arab Emirates.
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths admitted on February 12 that the physique had “up to now failed the individuals in northwest Syria”.
Since then, the UN launched a $397 million attraction to assist quake victims in Syria.
The United Nations says a complete of 420 vehicles loaded with UN support have crossed into the rebel-held pocket for the reason that tragedy.
Greater than 4 million individuals reside in areas exterior authorities management in Syria’s north and northwest, 90 p.c of whom depend upon support to outlive.
The primary UN support convoy crossed into the world on February 9 — three days after the quake struck — and carried tents and different aid for five,000 that had been anticipated earlier than the earthquake.
The UN largely delivers aid to Syria’s northwest by way of neighbouring Turkey by the Bab al-Hawa crossing — the one approach for support to enter with out Damascus’s permission.
The crossing is situated within the Idlib area, which UN officers hardly ever go to and is managed by the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
The WHO chief mentioned on February 12 that Assad had expressed openness to extra border crossings for support to be dropped at quake victims within the rebel-held northwest.
On February 13, the United Nations mentioned Damascus had allowed it to additionally use two different crossings in areas exterior its management — Bab al-Salama and Al-Rai — for 3 months.
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An AFP correspondent mentioned a brand new support convoy entered by way of Bab al-Salama on Wednesday.
The primary UN delegation to go to rebel-held northwestern Syria after the earthquake crossed over from Turkey on February 14.
It comprised deputy regional humanitarian coordinator David Carden and Sanjana Quazi, who heads the UN Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Turkey and was largely an evaluation mission.
The 7.8-magnitude quake that struck war-torn Syria and Turkey killed greater than 50,000 individuals throughout the 2 nations.
The Syrian authorities has mentioned 1,414 individuals have been killed in areas underneath its management, whereas Turkish-backed officers in Syria have put the dying toll in rebel-held areas at 4,537.