The death toll from the devastating earthquake in Syria has topped 2,500, according to Syrian state media and a rescue service operating in northwest Syria.
The White Helmets rescue team tweeted that the death toll in opposition-controlled areas had risen to more than 1,280 dead and more than 2,600 injured.
“This number is expected to increase significantly due to the presence of hundreds of families under the rubble more than 50 hours after the earthquake,” write the White Helmets.
Overnight, Syria’s health minister said the death toll in government-controlled parts of the country had risen to 1,250, the state-run Al-Ikhbariya news agency reported on its Telegram feed. According to him, the number of wounded was 2054 people.
The war-ravaged country called on the United Nations and all Member States to help with rescue operations, medical services, shelter and food aid.
The UN said it was “exploring all avenues” to get supplies to opposition-controlled northwestern Syria and released $25 million from its emergency fund to help launch humanitarian aid in Turkey and Syria.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the road leading to the Bab al-Hawa border crossing from Turkey to northern Syria had been damaged, temporarily interrupting the delivery of aid to opposition-held areas. He said the border crossing itself was “virtually intact”.
Bab el-Hawa is the only crossing through which UN aid is allowed into the area.
Dujarric said the UN is preparing a convoy to cross the line of conflict in Syria. But that will likely require a new deal with Bashar al-Assad’s government, which has been laying siege to opposition-held areas throughout the civil war.
In Turkey, Dujarric said, more than 1.7 million of the 15 million people in the 10 earthquake-hit provinces are Syrian refugees.
The US Agency for International Development reports that in Syria, including in areas held by the opposition, US partner humanitarian organizations are already providing emergency assistance to earthquake victims. The Rapid Response Team reported this to journalists in Ankara.
Earlier Monday, strong aftershocks rocked the Syrian regions of Idlib, Aleppo, Hama, Latakia and Raqqa, the state news agency SANA reported.
Hundreds of buildings have also been destroyed or damaged in opposition-held areas in northern Syria, where rescuers are frantically searching for survivors.
More than 6,234 people have died in Turkey as a result of two earthquakes of magnitude 7.7 and 7.6, according to the Turkish Emergency and Disaster Management Authority (AFAD).
According to the agency, both earthquakes occurred in the southern province of Kahramanmarash.
