NewsRescue
On Tuesday, the United Nations launched an appeal for $397 million to assist earthquake victims in Syria, where the disaster has killed thousands and left millions in desperate need of assistance.
In announcing the appeal at the UN headquarters in New York, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the funds would provide “life-saving relief” to nearly five million Syrians over a three-month period.
He went on to say that the UN was in the “final stages” of a similar appeal for Turkey.
“One week after the devastating earthquakes, millions of people across the region are struggling for survival, homeless and in freezing temperatures. We are doing everything possible to change this. “However, much more is required,” Guterres pleaded.
He urged member countries to “fully fund this effort immediately and assist the millions of children, women, and men whose lives have been upended by this generational disaster.”
Guterres also demanded that aid workers be allowed to operate freely in Syria, which has already been ravaged by a 12-year civil war.
Activists and emergency response teams in Syria’s northwest have criticized the UN’s slow response to the earthquake in rebel-held areas, contrasting it with planeloads of humanitarian aid delivered to government-controlled airports.