A first aid convoy to the rebel areas of northwestern Syria entered Thursday from Turkey through the Bab al-Hawa border post, on the fourth day after the earthquake which officially killed more than 17,500 people, a report which keeps getting heavier.
An AFP correspondent saw six trucks, notably loaded with material for tents and cleaning products, entering Syrian territory.
Mazen Allouch, an official at the border post, said the aid was expected before the 7.8 magnitude earthquake followed by more than a hundred tremors that devastated Syria and the Middle East on Monday. Turkey.
In total, the economic losses could reach “four billion dollars or more”, according to the rating agency Fitch.
The earthquake killed at least 17,513 people, according to the latest official reports, including 14,351 in Turkey and 3,162 in Syria.
Twenty-three million people are “potentially exposed, including around five million vulnerable people”, estimates the World Health Organization (WHO). She fears a major health crisis that would cause even more damage than the earthquake.
Humanitarian organizations are particularly worried about the spread of the cholera epidemic, which has reappeared in Syria.
“Solidarity”
Gathered at a summit in Brussels, the leaders of the European Union – which is organizing a donor conference for Turkey and Syria in early March – observed a moment of silence for the victims of the earthquake.
They sent a letter to Mr. Erdogan expressing their “solidarity” with the Turkish people and offering to increase their aid to Turkey.
The EU sent first aid to Turkey a few hours after the earthquake on Monday, at the country’s request. But it initially offered only minimal aid to Syria through existing humanitarian programs, due to international sanctions in place since the civil war began in 2011.
On Wednesday, Damascus formally requested EU assistance and the Commission asked member states to respond favorably to this request.
In the rebel areas, the earthquake complicates the arrival of aid, making it difficult to pass the access roads to Bab al-Hawa, the only crossing point currently guaranteed by the UN.
“We must do everything to ensure that there are no obstacles to the vital aid that is needed in Syria,” UN special envoy Geir Pedersen told reporters in Geneva, confirming a first convoy via Bab al-Hawa.
He called for “not to politicize” aid to this country, adding that he had raised the subject with representatives of the United States and the European Union: “They assure me that they will do everything they can to make sure there is no impediment to aid coming to Syria.”
Two more passes
Already the day before, the resident coordinator of the UN in Syria, El-Mostafa Benlamlih, had called in an interview with AFP to “put politics aside” and facilitate access to the rebel regions.
For its part, Turkey has announced that it is working to open two border crossings with Syria to allow the delivery of aid.
“For humanitarian reasons, we are also aiming to open border posts with the regions under government control” of Damascus, said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
In Geneva, Geir Pedersen told AFP that these crossing points not approved by the UN will be difficult for the organization to use, “but member countries could possibly do so”.
Thousands of homes are destroyed on both sides of the border and rescuers continue their efforts to search for survivors in the rubble, even though the crucial first 72-hour window to find survivors has closed.
In Adiyaman, the earthquake trapped teenagers and their companions in their completely collapsed hotel, who had come from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC, recognized by Turkey alone) to play in a volleyball tournament.
According to Nazim Cavusoglu, Cypriot-Turkish Minister of Education who came to the scene, a teacher and three parents were extracted alive on Wednesday evening. “Thirty-three people are still trapped,” he told AFP.
The freezing cold makes living conditions hellish for the survivors. In the Turkish city of Gaziantep, temperatures dropped early Thursday to -5°C.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, visiting the disaster areas, sketched a mea culpa on Wednesday in the face of mounting criticism: “Of course there are shortcomings, it is impossible to be prepared for such a disaster” .
Since the quake, Turkish social media has been flooded with messages from people complaining about the slow deployment of relief efforts and a dozen people have been arrested for posts critical of the government.
Access to Twitter was blocked for a dozen hours on the main mobile phone providers in the country before being restored on Thursday.
Turkish officials have in recent weeks repeatedly issued warnings about the use of social networks before the presidential and legislative elections on May 14, where Mr. Erdogan is seeking a new mandate after 20 years in power.