The Syrian opposition’s health minister admitted on Tuesday that the health system in the country’s northwest was unprepared for the impact of the earthquakes on Monday and that they are in need of all kinds of medical supplies.
“Without everything, our clinics and hospitals are not prepared for such a disaster. We need supplies for surgical units and trauma hospitals, we need a lot of things,” he told the news agency. EFE the shadow government minister in areas controlled by the opposition to the Damascus regime, Maram al-Sheikh.
The official explained that the health system in opposition-controlled areas in Idlib and Aleppo provinces was already “below the reference line of minimum services” before the earthquakes and that the shortcomings are too many to cope with this disastrous situation.
The minister of the interim government, a body set up by the Syrian National Coalition (CNFROS), the main opposition-in-exile alliance, stated that the region needs aid for all medical centers and rescue teams, as well as shelter and food for those affected by the earthquakes that happened on Monday.
“The situation here is really catastrophic, a large number of dead and a large number of injured,” he lamented, recalling that opposition zones in northwestern Syria have already recorded more than 700 deaths from earthquakes.
The earthquakes have hit northern Syria, which borders Turkey, hard, where 2,100 people have been injured so far in the area controlled by various insurgent groups.
However, the other areas under the control of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government were also hit hard, with more than 1,500 killed and 3,500 injured in the Arab country, where 70 percent of infrastructure was destroyed after nearly 12 months. year was destroyed. of an armed conflict.
The preliminary balance of Monday’s earthquakes in Turkey and Syria has risen to more than 5,000 dead as rescue operations are carried out under the rubble of destroyed buildings in both countries.
The quakes, the largest at 7.8 on the Richter scale, toppled thousands of buildings in southern Turkey and northern Syria.
Rescue teams remain in the affected places and the work is complicated by the low temperatures in the region.
Source: DN
