Turkey quake: The United Nations on Thursday appealed for $1 billion to help over 5 million survivors of the most devastating earthquake in Turkey’s modern history. Two days earlier it appealed for $397 million to help nearly 5 million Syrians across the border in the rebel-held northwest. Turkey and Syria were both devastated by the earthquake that has so far claimed nearly 45,000 lives, as hopes for survivors are fading with each passing day.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric was grilled with questions about why the appeal for Turkey is targeted at only 5.2 million people. According to the UN and the government, more than 15 million people were affected. Dujarric also was asked why the appeal for Turkey is 2½ times larger than the one for Syria to help almost the same number of people.
‘Turkey has efficient system’
He said the Turkish appeal “was designed in very close cooperation with the government of Turkey, which is leading the relief efforts.” “This is the number they came up with for the focus on people who need the most humanitarian aid, most quickly, and where the UN can be most effective,” Dujarric said. He said Turkey has “a very efficient search and rescue and humanitarian system.”
As for the disparity in the number of appeals, he said, part of the reason is that “there is already a well-established humanitarian community which has been working in Syria,” and before the quake there was a $4.8 billion humanitarian appeal for Syria for 2023.
Syria already has a humanitarian pot of money
“So there’s already a humanitarian pot of money that exists for Syria, which did not exist for Turkey,” he said.
Both appeals are for emergency funds for the next three months, and will be followed by fresh appeals for longer-term help.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the $1 billion appeal for Turkey, saying the money will allow aid groups to rapidly scale up support for government-led relief efforts, including providing food, protection, education, water and shelter to survivors of the quake of magnitude 7.8 on February 6 that devastated southern Turkey and northwestern Syria.
“The needs are enormous, people are suffering and there’s no time to lose,” Guterres said. “I urge the international community to step up and fully fund this critical effort in response to one of the biggest natural disasters of our times.”
Largest number of refugees in Turkey
He said that “Turkey is home to the largest number of refugees in the world and has shown enormous generosity to its Syrian neighbors for years,” so it is time for the world to support the Turkish people.
More than 1.74 million refugees live in the 11 Turkish provinces affected by the earthquakes, according to the UN refugee agency.
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths, who visited both quake-ravaged countries last week, said: “The people of Turkey have experienced unspeakable heartache.”
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