Barely Aid Reaches Opposition Areas in Northwestern Syria

Only one team of Spaniards and another Egyptian have come to this area to help with rescue tasks. Access for rescuers and humanitarian aid to north-western Syria has been almost non-existent, mainly because there is only one access point, that of Bab el Hawa.

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Euskaraz irakurri: Just iritsi da laguntza Siriako oposizioaren kontrolpean dauden eremuetara

the group of rescuers white helmetswhich operates in opposition areas in northwest Syria where humanitarian aid has barely arrived after the earthquakes, has denounced today that only one team of Spaniards and another Egyptian have gone to this area to help with rescue tasks.

The Spanish NGO open arms gained access to opposition areas of Syria on Thursday. The first team of volunteers to arrive, however, was an Egyptian.

After the earthquakes that struck Syria, Turkey and Kurdistan since early Monday morning, access for rescuers and humanitarian aid to northwest Syria has been almost non-existent, mainly because there is only one access step, that of Bab el Hawawhich connects Turkey with the Syrian province of Idlib.

The first UN humanitarian convoy arrived yesterday through that crossing, but until then no supplies had arrived in the areas of the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo in the hands of the opposition, surrounded by territory held by rival actors and only directly accessible from the other side of the Turkish divide.

Harim, near Idlib (Syria). Photo: EFE

The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoganreported this Friday that 18,991 people have died in the Ottoman state alone due to the earthquakes registered on Monday, the total now being 22,375.

Erdogan has also stressed that some 75,000 people have been brought to safety despite the “setbacks” suffered by the rescue teams.

Erdogan has acknowledged that the authorities have issues to manage the effects of the earthquake due to the enormous area affected and the degree of destruction.

For its part, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), under the Ministry of the Interior, has detailed that the number of injured now stands at 74,242, according to the Turkish state news agency, Anatolia.

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During the early hours of the morning, the emergency services have continued to rescue people from under the rubble nearly 100 hours after the earthquakes, an increasingly complicated task since the standard time that a human being can remain without drinking water or food in disasters like this is 72 hours.

As the work of the emergency services continues, the Turkish authorities have vowed to take action against negligent housing construction, as poor construction is suspected to have played a role in the high number of deaths.

For its part, the earthquakes have left almost 3,384 people dead and 5,200 injured in Syria, among the figures offered by the health authorities of the Government of Bashar al Assad and those of the opponents in the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo (northwest), according to Defense Syrian civilian, known as ‘white helmets’.