More than 100 hours after the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that devastated Turkey and Syria, at least nine children and several adults were pulled alive from the rubble. Moments of hope, at a time when the death toll is approaching 23,000. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visited the victims of the tragedy for the first time, meeting survivors in Aleppo hospital and also accepting the delivery of international aid in rebel-held areas. This after the US announced the suspension of sanctions on all transactions related to the delivery of humanitarian aid to Syria.
“The Council of Ministers approves the delivery of humanitarian aid to all parts of the Syrian Arab Republic,” reads an official communiqué, specifying that the distribution of aid will be overseen by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Red Cross. Half Moon, with the help of the United Nations.
The civil war that has ravaged the country since 2011 has left the Syrian regime without control of the entire country and international sanctions, from the US and the European Union, make it difficult for aid to reach rebel-held areas. This was the case before the earthquake, then it became more serious, as access was only through Turkey and the damage in that country made the situation even more difficult.
“I want to make it clear that US sanctions against Syria will not hinder efforts to save the lives of the Syrian people,” US Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said after the US issued a six-month sanctions waiver on all transactions on Thursday night. related to providing aid to Syria. While humanitarian aid is already exempt from sanctions, this decision allows donors and organizations not to waste time and money proving they are exempt. The US also announced an $85 million package to help both Syria and Turkey.
In rebel-held areas, rescue efforts are in the hands of the White Helmets, who draw on years of civil war experience. This Friday, the leader of this NGO, Raed Saleh, accused the United Nations of failing in the earthquake-affected areas. “The UN has committed a crime against the Syrian people in the Northwest,” told AFP, claiming UN agencies have not yet provided aid to the survivors – authorities at the border say the second humanitarian aid convoy arrived this Friday, coming from Turkey. “The UN must apologize to the Syrian people,” he added.
A World Health Organization official, Mike Ryan, admitted that Syria is a “forgotten crisis” before sending a plane with aid to the region. “The world has forgotten about Syria,” Ryan told reporters in Dubai. “Frankly, the earthquake drew attention again. But the millions of people in Syria have been suffering for years,” he lamented. The UN called for an immediate ceasefire to allow aid to the region. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, there will be more than 5.3 million internally displaced persons in Syria alone.
Response was not fast
On the Turkish side, President Recep Tayyp Erdogan admitted once again that the authorities’ response to the earthquakes did not go as planned. “There were so many damaged buildings that, despite currently having the largest search and rescue team in the world, the search efforts were unfortunately not as fast as we wanted.” said during a visit to Adiyaman province, one of the hardest hit provinces.
But more than a hundred hours later, there are still survivors to be rescued. Turkish television showed the moment rescuers pulled a mother and three children from a pile of rubble in Hatay province, 108 hours after the initial quake. Another three-year-old child was also rescued in the same area. A 10-day-old baby was also pulled out along with his mother, who had spent almost half of his short life under the rubble. Also in Syria, a six-year-old boy was rescued in the town of Jindires, to the applause of rescuers.
Source: DN
