UN official warns of rising earthquake death toll in Syria

AMMAN (AP) — The United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Syria mentioned Thursday that the nation’s dying toll from final week’s lethal earthquake is more likely to rise additional as groups scramble to take away rubble in hard-hit areas.

In an interview with The Related Press, Muhannad Hadi defended the U.N.’s response to the catastrophe, which many in Syria have criticized as sluggish and insufficient.

The U.N. has reported a dying toll of about 6,000 for all of Syria, together with 4,400 within the rebel-held northwest. That determine is larger than these reported by authorities authorities in Damascus and civil protection officers within the northwest, who’ve reported 1,414 and a couple of,274 deaths respectively.

“We’re hoping that this quantity is not going to enhance by a lot,” Hadi mentioned. “However from what we’re seeing … the devastation of this earthquake is basically not giving us a variety of hope that this would be the finish of it.”

Hadi famous that even earlier than the earthquake, there have been some 4.1 million folks in want of assist in northwest Syria, lots of whom had been already displaced and have now change into homeless or displaced once more.

Locals scuffling with the aftermath of the earthquake have criticized delays in getting U.N. assist to the world. Roads resulting in the one border crossing from Turkey to Syria that the U.N. is permitted to make use of had been broken by the earthquake. The primary convoy of assist to enter northwest Syria got here three days after the quake.

The U.N. and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad reached a deal Monday to open two further crossings, however critics say the U.N. ought to have used further crossings with out ready for approval or discovered one other approach to get assist in, in mild of the dire scenario on the bottom.

Syrian rescue staff and people who misplaced houses and members of the family within the quake have criticized the sluggish arrival of assist, saying they felt deserted by the worldwide group.

“I can guarantee you that we now have finished the whole lot we are able to from the very starting,” Hadi mentioned. “We requested everyone to place the pursuits of the folks first. We requested everyone to de-politicize the humanitarian scenario and give attention to supporting us to achieve the folks.”

Hadi mentioned 120 assist vehicles had crossed into northwestern Syria from Turkey as of Thursday.

To this point, no assist convoys have crossed from Damascus-controlled territory into the rebel-held areas. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the al-Qaida-linked insurgent group that controls a lot of the northwest has up to now refused to permit assist to cross from authorities areas.

Hadi mentioned the U.N. is “working with all events” to open the route to help, however acknowledged that “up to now, we haven’t been profitable.”

The U.N. has appealed for $397 million to offer “desperately wanted, life-saving reduction,” together with shelter, meals and well being look after the following three months.

Extra problems will nearly definitely come up as soon as the earthquake response moved from speedy emergency assist to rebuilding, however Hadi mentioned it’s too early to consider that.

“What we have to give attention to proper now’s the humanitarian work,” he mentioned.

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Related Press workers author Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.