(United Nations) The United Nations is appealing for international aid to raise a billion dollars for Turkey devastated on February 6 by an earthquake which killed at least 40,000 people in this country and in Syria, a Secretary General Antonio Guterres announced on Thursday.
“The funding – which covers a period of three months – will assist 5.2 million people and enable aid organizations to step up their crucial support for government-led efforts” in earthquake-hit Turkey. most devastating land in the country in a century,” Guterres wrote in a statement.
He “urged the international community to do more and fully fund this vital effort to respond to one of the greatest natural disasters of our time”.
“Turkey is home to the largest number of refugees in the world and has shown immense generosity towards its Syrian neighbor for years,” insisted the UN chief.
“Now is the time for the world to stand with the people of Turkey, just as they have done with others in search of help”, added Mr. Guterres, specifying that “the needs were enormous, [que] people were suffering and [qu’]there was no time to lose”.
Asked about the number of people targeted by the call for donations, 5.2 million, against almost double affected by the earthquake, the spokesperson for the Secretary General, Stéphane Dujarric, noted that the decision had been taken in consultation with the Turkish government. To “focus on the people most in need of help most quickly, and where the UN can be most effective,” he said.
On Wednesday, the UN had launched a similar appeal also for about 5 million people for three months in northwestern Syria, for an amount of about 400 million dollars.
The difference in amount between the two is explained in particular by the fact that before the earthquake there was already a UN appeal to finance the humanitarian response plan for Syria, amounting to 4.8 billion dollars for 2023, explained Stéphane Dujarric. This is not the case for Turkey.
On the other hand, ArcelorMittal, the second largest steel group in the world, describing a “heartrending” situation, announced a donation of 5 million dollars to help the victims of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, via the humanitarian organizations Doctors Without Borders and Disasters Emergency Committee.