The death toll from the devastating earthquake in Syria surpassed 3,150, and the first UN aid convoy arrived in the country on Thursday.
The earthquake killed 3,162 people and injured more than 5,000, according to Syrian state media and a rescue service operating in northwestern Syria.
The Syrian Civil Defense, better known as the White Helmets, announced on Thursday that the death toll in northwestern Syria had risen to more than 1,900 with more than 2,950 injured.
However, this number is likely to increase significantly due to the fact that hundreds of families are still under the rubble of destroyed buildings and houses, the organizations said in a statement.
He added that the teams continued search and rescue operations in very difficult conditions approximately 75 hours after the strong earthquake that hit the area.
The White Helmets also said that the number of completely collapsed buildings in northwestern Syria rose to 418, with more than 1,300 partially collapsed houses, in addition to thousands of others that had cracked.
Meanwhile, state news agency SANA, citing the health ministry, reported more than 1,262 dead and 2,285 injured in regime-controlled areas.
Syrian regime health minister Hassan al-Ghobash said ambulances and medical personnel have worked tirelessly for more than 55 hours to get to each casualty, remove them from the rubble and take the wounded to hospitals for medical treatment.
“Despite grueling efforts, as of Wednesday, rescue teams are still managing to find and rescue survivors trapped in the rubble,” he said.
The affected areas were initially difficult to access, and as the restoration work progresses, the number of victims increases.
UN aid arrives
The first UN convoy with humanitarian aid arrived in Syria on Thursday through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey.
According to UN sources, the convoy consists of six trucks with humanitarian aid such as tents and hygiene products.
The aid will help some of the most vulnerable affected by Monday’s 7.8 earthquake that killed more than 14,000 people in southeast Turkey.
“The first UN humanitarian aid convoy arrived today,” said Mazen Alloush, a media worker at the crossing.
Allush noted that the delivery was expected before the earthquake on Monday, but said: “This can be considered the initial response of the United Nations, and should be followed, as we were promised, by sending larger convoys to help our people.”
The mechanism for delivering humanitarian aid from Turkey to opposition-held Syria via the Bab al-Hawa checkpoint is the only way the UN can deliver aid to civilians without bypassing areas controlled by Syrian government forces.
While the crossing itself was unaffected by the quake, the road leading to it was damaged, temporarily disrupting operations, a UN spokesman said earlier Tuesday.
UN Special Representative Geir Pederson said on Thursday that Syria’s emergency response should not be “politicized” after “one of the most catastrophic earthquakes in the region in about a century.”
He told reporters in Geneva that the UN “was confident today that we can get first aid today.”
Relief planes from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Russia, Iran and other countries have been landing at Syrian government-controlled airports in Damascus, Aleppo and Latakia since Monday.
UN Resident Coordinator for Syria El-Mostafa Benlamlih told AFP on Wednesday that no new humanitarian aid had been sent to rebel-held northwest Syria for about three weeks.
He said the UN had some supplies in the area – enough to feed 100,000 people for one week.
Speaking from Damascus, Benlamli said the destruction in government-controlled provinces was “huge.”
“But we also know that the destruction in the northwest is massive and we need to get there to evaluate.”
Turkey will open more crossings
Earlier, a Turkish official confirmed that the Bab el-Hawa border crossing was open to humanitarian aid and authorities would open several more crossings in two days if security was good.
The United Nations has described access to opposition-controlled territory in Syria through Bab al-Hawa as a “lifeline” for an estimated 4 million people who it says are dependent on humanitarian aid.
Most of the residents are people who have been displaced – sometimes multiple times – as a result of the fighting in Syria. They suffer additional factors including malnutrition, cholera, cold winter weather, and now the effects of earthquakes.
UN aid from Turkey served 2.7 million people per month in northwestern Syria last year, compared with 43,500 per month who received assistance on routes inside Syria since August 2021.
Bab al-Hawa is the only open crossing of four border crossings from Turkey to northern Syria.
Before the earthquake, the Syrian regime wanted humanitarian aid to flow only through areas of the country it controlled, in order to deprive the opposition in the north of additional resources.
This approach has raised fears that the government may prevent the delivery of vital aid to the victims of the earthquake in areas held by the opposition.
Activists have previously reported that while no aid was delivered to the area after the earthquake, the bodies of Syrians from Turkey were transported through the border crossing instead.
Millions of Syrian refugees live in Turkey. The border guards published photos of minibuses from which body bags were loaded into other vehicles.
More than 300 bodies of Syrians arrived in Syria via Bab al-Hawa following Monday’s earthquake, according to the border agency.
