U.N. aid chief laments 'failure' as 50,000+ quake toll expected

A week after earthquakes destroyed large swaths of Turkey and Syria, an outpouring of international aid could not undo the damage made worse by an sluggish initial response.

Due to political pressure from Syria's ally Russia, just one of four previous border crossings to deliver humanitarian aid has remained open along the Turkey-Syria border, but even that one was closed for days, hampered by damaged roads and security concerns. On Monday, Syrian leader Bashar Assad agreed to open two more border crossings from Turkey to bring badly needed aid to quake-hit Syrians.

The announcement during a closed U.N. Security Council meeting came after Assad met with U.N. emergency relief coordinator Martin Griffiths in Damascus. On a visit to the Bab al-Hawa border crossing between Turkey and northern Syria, Griffiths conceded the international community made serious mistakes.

“We have so far failed the people in northwest Syria,” he said. “They rightly feel abandoned. Looking for international help that hasn’t arrived. My duty and our obligation is to correct this failure as fast as we can. That’s my focus now.”

Once the Bab al-Hawa border crossing reopened more than 50 U.N. supply trucks entered Syria between last Thursday and Monday, Griffiths' U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, said.

At the request of Brazil and Switzerland, the Security Council met to discuss the aid situation a day after the United States called for an immediate vote to open more border crossings. Brazil and Switzerland, which oversee Syrian cross-border issues for the 15-nation council, pushed to quickly open the two added crossings.

The death toll from the magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 earthquakes that hit southeastern Turkey and northern Syria a week ago rose to over 36,000 people as the search continued for loved ones trapped in the rubble despite a closing survival window.

The earthquake in Turkey, with it epicenter in Gaziantep province, is believed to be the nation's strongest since 1939. The humanitarian situation in Syria already was considered dire before the earthquake hit because of the war and conflict since 2011, a wrecked economy with high food and fuel prices, and a cholera outbreak.

Survivors must contend with a lack of water, sanitation and freezing temperatures. On a tour of quake-hit Adana, Turkey, as the death toll surpassed 25,000, Griffiths told Sky News that he expected the number of deaths to more than double.

'An unbearable toll'

OCHA has so far released US$50 million in emergency aid resources for parts of Syria, where it says the needs are at the highest levels in more than a decade of war and conflict.

The World Health Organization made US$16 million available for Syria and Turkey from an emergency fund and launched a US$43 million appeal for earthquake aid, its director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced during a press conference from Damascus.

Tedros, who flew to Syria to see the damage for himself, recalled that while he was touring Aleppo he met a girl named Nour who had lost both her parents and suffered a broken arm when their six-story apartment building collapsed.

"Nour is just one example of an unfolding tragedy that is affecting millions. The compounding crises of conflict, COVID-19, cholera, economic decline and now the earthquake have taken an unbearable toll," said Tedros.

National and international organizations, neighbors, mosques, churches and community groups are racing to provide people with a place to sleep and feel safe, with food, clean water and medical care, for injuries resulting from the earthquake, but also for other health needs," he said. "But we need to take the response to the next level, to reach all affected populations, in all areas."