The World Food Program has already provided ready-to-eat food to 43,000 people in Syria and 73,000 people in Turkey.
A new call for solidarity. The United Nations is asking for subsidies to help 874,000 people, in Turkey and Syria, after the earthquakes that have bereaved these two countries. Specifically, the World Food Program – linked to the UN therefore – wants to collect 77 million dollars.
“WFP is requesting $77 million to provide assistance with food rations and hot meals for a total of 874,000 people affected by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria,” the Rome-based agency said. .
This figure concerns 284,000 newly displaced people in Syria and 590,000 people in Turkey, according to the WFP. A deadly earthquake devastated these two countries five days ago, killing more than 22,000 people, according to a still provisional report.
Hot and ready-to-eat meals
WFP says it has so far helped 43,000 people in Syria and 73,000 people in Turkey, by providing ready-to-eat food.
“We mainly provide hot meals, ready-to-eat rations and family food boxes that do not need to be cooked and can be consumed immediately,” explained Corinne Fleischer, Regional Director for South Africa. North and the Middle East, cited in the press release.
“For thousands of people affected by the earthquake, food is now one of the main necessities and our priority is to get it quickly to those in need,” she added.
Complicated access to Syria
International humanitarian aid is flowing into Turkey, but access to war-torn Syria, whose regime is under international sanctions, is much more complicated.
Almost all the humanitarian aid destined for the rebel areas is sent from Turkey through the Bab al-Hawa crossing, the only one currently guaranteed by the UN. Turkish diplomacy says it is working to open two other crossing points “with the regions under government control” in Damascus, “for humanitarian reasons”. The UN had indicated on Tuesday that the transport through this border post was disrupted due to damaged roads.
For his part, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced Thursday that he was “on his way to Syria”. The President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Mirjana Spoljaric, arrived the same day in Aleppo, Syria.
