The World Bank announced today that it will provide $1,78 billion in aid to Turkey, after the devastating earthquakes that hit the southern part of Turkey and Syria on Monday and killed more than 20.000 people.
The aid primarily refers to emergency aid, and later also to reconstruction.
"We are providing emergency assistance and preparing a rapid assessment of the huge and urgent needs on the ground. This will help identify priority areas for recovery and reconstruction as we prepare operations to meet those needs," said World Bank President David Malpa.
Turkey was hit by two strong earthquakes, magnitude 7,8 and 7,5, on Monday. Earthquakes of lesser magnitude followed later.
The death toll from the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria is now at least 20.451, according to authorities.
In Turkey, the death toll rose to at least 17.134 on Thursday, and 70.347 were injured, according to Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD).
The total death toll in Syria has risen to at least 3.317 — including 1.970 in rebel-held areas in the northwest according to the White Helmets civil defense group and 1.347 dead in government-held parts of Syria — according to Syrian state media.
The total number of injured in Syria across all affected territories rose to 5.245, with 2.295 in government-held areas and 2.950 in rebel-held areas.
At least 75.592 people have been injured in Syria and Turkey, according to the Turkish government, the White Helmets and Syrian state media.
The United Kingdom has pledged an additional three million pounds ($3,64 million) in funding for the White Helmets to support rescue and emergency operations in northwest Syria, the statement said.
Britain has so far given a total of 3,8 million pounds ($4,62 million) to the White Helmets since the earthquake.
"Given the scale of the earthquake and the difficulty of accessing the affected areas in north-west Syria, the UK will provide the White Helmets with additional funding to assist their major search and rescue operations. Over 2.500 White Helmets volunteers are involved in the response across about 40 communities in northwest Syria," the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office announced, reports CNN.
The UK funding will support projects such as "building safety assessments, road reopening and utilities reconnection", the Foreign Office said.
"The White Helmets are playing a critical and life-saving role in Syria in the most desperate circumstances since the earthquake," Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, Britain's secretary of state for the Middle East, said in a statement.
"Our collective priority now is to provide life-saving aid to those who need it most. The White Helmets are in the best position to deliver that in northwestern Syria."
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was open to the idea of delivering aid to Syria through additional border crossings, other than the Bab al-Hawa crossing — the only United Nations-approved humanitarian aid corridor between Turkey and areas of northern Syria.
"I would, of course, be very happy if the Security Council could reach a consensus to allow the use of more crossings, because we also need to increase our capacity to deliver cross-line operations in Idlib from Damascus," Guterres said. "Many non-humanitarian UN agencies already deliver through other crossings."
The UN said on Tuesday that the Bab al-Hawa crossing was "essentially intact", but the road leading to the crossing was damaged in Monday's earthquake, hampering relief efforts.
The first convoy of the United Nations, consisting of six trucks, crossed into northern Syria on Thursday through the Bab al-Hawa crossing, according to Guterres. He said "the United Nations has done its best to race to respond," adding that "more aid is on the way, but much, much more is needed."
"The earthquake occurred as the humanitarian crisis in northwestern Syria was already worsening, with needs at the highest level since the beginning of the conflict," Guterres said, describing the dire need for urgent humanitarian aid to arrive in Syria.
"Unfortunately, we are aware that we have not yet seen the full extent of the damage and the humanitarian crisis unfolding before our eyes."
Guterres said the UN would launch a rapid appeal for donor support for Syria early next week. He added that he had already released $25 million from the UN's Central Emergency Fund for Syria, and that UN agencies and international and national NGOs were assessing their initial funding needs over the next three months.
"These resources will be used by the humanitarian community for critical assistance: shelter, health, nutrition, water, sanitation, hygiene, education, protection and psychosocial support services," explained Guterres.
Guterres also said that Martin Griffiths, the United Nations under-secretary for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, was already in Turkey to assess the areas affected by the earthquake. Griffiths will also visit Gaziantep, Aleppo and Damascus to assess aid needs.
The death toll from the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria is now at least 19.738, according to authorities.
In Turkey, the death toll rose to at least 16.546, and 66.132 were injured, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.
The total number of deaths in Syria rose to at least 3.192 — including 1.930 in rebel-held areas in the northwest, according to the White Helmets civil defense group — and 1.262 deaths in government-held parts of Syria, Syrian state media reported.
The total number of injured in Syria across all affected territories rose to 5.158, with 2.258 in government-held areas and 2.900 in rebel-held areas.
At least 71.290 people have been injured in Syria and Turkey, according to the Turkish government, the White Helmets and Syrian state media.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeated his promise that the destroyed houses of the earthquake survivors would be rebuilt within a year.
Erdogan, who is facing uncertain presidential elections in May, today visited the regions affected by the earthquake and said in the city of Gaziantep that the new buildings will not have more than three or four floors.
The Turkish president, who is under increasing criticism that the government did not respond adequately to the natural disaster, stated that the government was working on setting up temporary housing containers and shelters for those who were left without a roof over their heads.
He also said that the state of emergency he declared earlier this week, in the 10 provinces affected by the earthquake, would be approved in parliament later today. The government announced that the state of emergency will facilitate disaster management in those areas.
For Erdogan, who faces an uphill battle in presidential elections in May, the natural disaster came at a sensitive time, as Turkey faces a slump in economic activity and high inflation.
A family of three, including two brothers and a mother, was rescued in the 78th hour after the earthquake that hit Turkey on Monday.
Live images from Channel D, which is owned by CNN's partner network CNN Turk, showed rescue workers running towards the rubble to save the child in Pazarcik, Kahramanmaras.
A few minutes later, a rescue team was seen carrying the boy with a large blanket.
The mother of the two boys, 36-year-old Hatidge Igde, was rescued after the boys were pulled from the rubble. The boys' names are Mehmet Naim Igde and Melih Igde, according to Kanal D.
Rescue workers told the reporter of Kanal D that they started the rescue operation at 22:23 local time on Wednesday evening and heard a voice at XNUMX:XNUMX local time, so they continued to work all night.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the death toll from the earthquake had risen to at least 16.710.
Speaking to reporters in Osmania, Turkey, he also said 64.194 injuries had been reported.
Erdogan also said that 6.444 buildings collapsed in the earthquake.
According to the latest data from the authorities in Turkey and Syria, the number of victims in those two countries is at least 17.543.
"In Turkey, the death toll has risen to at least 14.351, and 63.794 have been injured," Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said, according to CNN.
The total number of deaths in Syria has risen to 3.192.
"Half of this amount is intended to help the population of Turkey, and the other half to help the citizens of Syria"
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