CNN
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Security risks put a handful of search and rescue operations on hold on Saturday as the death toll from the magnitude-7.8 earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey topped 25,000.
Germany and Austria have suspended rescue operations in Turkey, citing security concerns.
Meanwhile, relief efforts in rebel-held areas of northern and northwestern Syria have ended, the volunteer organization Syria Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, said on Friday.
After searching for 108 hours, the group said it did not believe the person trapped under the rubble was still alive.
Syria has been ravaged by civil war since 2011, with four million people already dependent on humanitarian aid in the worst-affected areas of the rebel-held country before Monday’s disaster.
As many as 5.3 million people in Syria affected by the earthquake may be in need of shelter assistance, according to preliminary data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
But the country’s political system has complicated relief efforts, with some of the most affected regions ruled by internationally sidelined and severely sanctioned regimes, and others by Turkish and US-backed opposition forces. , was dominated by Kurdish rebels and Sunni Islamist fighters.
It took three days after the earthquake struck for the first UN convoy to cross the Bab al-Hawa intersection, the only humanitarian corridor linking Turkey and Syria.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma visited rescue workers and civilians in the affected areas on Saturday, including injured survivors at a hospital in the city of Latakia.
On Friday, he criticized the lack of humanitarian aid from Western countries, saying they “did not consider the human condition”. but did not provide a specific timeline.
According to Caroline Holt, director of disasters, climate and crises at the International Red Cross, relief operations could take two to three years to complete in Turkey, but could take five to 10 years in Syria. It is said that there is
Syrian-American actor Jay Abdo expressed his frustration on Saturday, telling CNN: Why, then, do borders and politics deprive Syrian civilians living in the northwest of the country of human rights to be rescued?”
He called on the international community to “act immediately” as “time is running out” and “civilians are not receiving any assistance, assistance or attention”.
The director-general of the World Health Organization arrived in the earthquake-hit Syrian city of Aleppo on Saturday on a plane carrying more than $290,000 worth of trauma emergency and surgical kits.
The degree of devastation is “unprecedented”, according to Belit Tasdemir, UN Liaison Officer for the AKUT Search and Rescue Association, which operated in Turkey.
He told CNN on Saturday that “subzero” temperatures and “extreme exhaustion” will start to affect rescue workers as they approach the end of the rescue period, making them less likely to find survivors.
Several amazing rescue However, it still offers a glimmer of hope.
Sezai Karabas and his young daughter were found alive in Gaziantep, southern Turkey, 132 hours after the quake struck.
A 70-year-old survivor named Menekse Tabak was rescued from the rubble of the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras 121 hours after the quake struck.
But search and rescue attempts have also been hampered in Turkey.
The German Federal Agency for Technical Relief said in a statement on Saturday that it had halted rescue and relief operations due to security concerns in the Hatay region.
A German rescue worker who was working with Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD) said, “We will resume work as soon as AFAD determines the situation is safe.”
The Austrian military made a similar decision, citing “increasing attacks between Turkish groups” as the reason, but said it would “have rescue and recovery forces ready”.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that those who commit looting and other crimes will be punished, college dormitories will be used to house homeless victims, and classes will go online. .
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths described the earthquakes in southern Turkey and northwestern Syria as the “worst event in 100 years” to hit the region, calling for a “three-month operation” and a “clear plan.” If you have “, come to work on either Sunday or Monday.
