BEIRUT, Feb 7, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - The United Nations and rights groups called
for increased aid for Syria on Tuesday, one year after a devastating
earthquake struck Turkey and the war-torn country, battering its impoverished
population.

"Billions of dollars in damage aside, the human toll of this disaster is
incalculable. Many people remain displaced to date, waiting for solutions and
shelter," two senior UN officials said in a joint statement.

Syria was already reeling from an economic crisis, but "the earthquakes
exacerbated the situation further yet," said UN Resident Coordinator and
Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria, Adam Abdelmoula, and Regional
Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis, Muhannad Hadi.

On February 6, 2023, a pre-dawn 7.8-magnitude tremor killed nearly 60,000
people in Turkey and Syria.

According to Damascus, the earthquake killed more than 1,400 people in
government-controlled areas of Syria, while more than 4,500 died in areas
held by opposition factions in the country's northwest.

"Today, a staggering 16.7 million people require humanitarian assistance.
This shocking number comes against the background of a bleak funding outlook
and conflicts raging across the globe," the UN officials said.

"This trend must urgently be reversed," they said.

"Our 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan was just over 36 percent resourced by
the year's end," they said, pleading for more funds.

The earthquake also damaged medical facilities, especially in the country's
northwest.

"Even before last February, the healthcare system in northwest Syria was
struggling, with underfunded medical facilities and limited services,"
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said in a statement.

The earthquake damaged 55 health facilities, leaving them unable to function
fully, MSF added.

More than 265,000 people in northwest Syria lost their homes in the quake and
43,000 have yet to return to their houses, with most of them languishing in
shelters, according to UN data.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) decried the country's "catastrophic
humanitarian needs" warning that Syria risked "being a forgotten crisis".

In 2023, the IRC's Syria aid programme recorded a "62 percent funding
shortfall, and the situation is anticipated to worsen with further aid
reductions expected throughout 2024," IRC added.

"We are urging the international community not to forget about Syria," said
Tanya Evans of the IRC.

Since 2011, Syria has endured a bloody conflict that has killed more than
half-a-million people and displaced millions.