UP TO 5.3 MILLION IN SYRIA MAY BE HOMELESS AFTER QUAKE: UN

Fri 10 February 2023:

Up to 5.3 million people in Syria may have been made homeless by the devastating earthquake which rocked the region this week, a United Nations official has said.

“As many as 5.3 million people in Syria may have been left homeless by the earthquake,” the Syria representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Sivanka Dhanapala, told a press briefing.

He said the UN estimated that 5.37 million people affected by the quake will need shelter assistance across the country.

“That is a huge number and comes to a population already suffering mass displacement,” he said.

“For Syria, this is a crisis within a crisis. We’ve had economic shocks, COVID and are now in the depths of winter.”

White Helmets slam UN quake response in rebel areas of Syria

The White Helmets rescue group has accused the United Nations of botching its response in rebel-held areas of northwestern Syria to this week’s devastating quake.

Leveraging years of experience gleaned during Syria’s more than decade-long war, the White Helmets have been spearheading rescue efforts in rebel areas with virtually no outside help.

“The UN has committed a crime against the Syrian people in the northwest,” the group’s chief Raed Saleh said, noting that UN agencies had not delivered any quake-specific relief to survivors since the disaster hit before dawn on Monday.

“The UN must apologise to the Syrian people.”

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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