The terrible earthquake that hit Turkiye on
Thursday claimed hundreds of lives and left millions of others in desperate
need of aid, leading the UN to launch aid for $1 billion to help the victims.
According to a statement by UN
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, 5.2 million people would get humanitarian
aid from the funds for a period of three months.
Included in the areas of food security,
protection, education, water, and shelter, the money would "enable relief
organisations to rapidly scale up crucial support," he continued.
There is no time to waste because of the
immense demands and suffering of the population, Guterres pleaded.
"I ask the world community to step up and
fully fund this important work," he said in response to one of the biggest
natural disasters in recent memory.
More than 35,000 people have died in southeast
Turkey as a result of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that occurred on February 6.
Many thousand more people have died in Syria, which is just across the border.
According to Ankara, the disaster has had a
direct impact on more than nine million people in Turkiye.
These include many Syrian refugees. According
to UN statistics, 1.74 million Syrians are residing in the 11 regions of
Turkiye that were affected by the earthquake under temporary refugee protection
status.
In its statement, OCHA noted that hundreds of
thousands of people—including young children and the elderly—suffer in
subfreezing conditions without access to heating, food, water, or shelter.
Over 47,000 buildings in Turkiye have been
demolished or damaged, the report continued, and thousands of residents have
sought safety in makeshift shelters.
According to OCHA, the UN is supplying the
impacted districts with hot meals, food, tents, warm winter apparel, blankets,
mattresses, cooking sets, and medical equipment.
The international organisation launched a $397
million appeal on Tuesday to aid earthquake victims in Syria.
Earlier, the UN allocated $50 million from its
core emergency response fund to aid in relief efforts.
With regard to its part, in the
"heart-breaking" destruction in Turkey and Syria, the world's largest
steel producer ArcelorMittal stated on Thursday that it has donated $5 million
to aid earthquake victims through the Disasters Emergency Committee and Doctors
Without Borders.