Finance
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for international support for the people of Turkey in the wake of massive earthquakes.
“Now is the time for the world to support the people of Turkiye (Turkey) — just as they have stood in solidarity with others seeking assistance,” Guterres said in a statement on the launch of a humanitarian appeal for Turkey on Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported.
Turkey, he noted, is home to the world’s largest number of refugees and has shown enormous generosity to its Syrian neighbors for years.
The United Nations has launched a $1 billion humanitarian appeal for the people of Turkey affected by the devastating earthquakes. The funding, which will be available for three months, will benefit 5.2 million people and allow aid organizations to rapidly scale up vital support for government-led relief efforts in a variety of areas, including food security, protection, education, water, and shelter, he said.
“The needs are enormous, people are suffering and there’s no time to lose. I urge the international community to step up and fully fund this critical effort in response to one of the biggest natural disasters of our times,” said Guterres.
One-quarter of the $1 billion will go toward emergency shelter and non-food items. Other priorities listed by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the flash appeal include food security and livelihoods, health and nutrition, water, sanitation, and hygiene, early recovery and debris removal, and multipurpose cash and social protection.
The earthquakes and aftershocks have wreaked havoc, with at least 9.1 million people in the 11 hardest-hit provinces likely to have been directly impacted, according to OCHA.
By Wednesday, nine days after the earthquakes, more than 35,400 people had died and over 105,500 had been injured in Turkey, according to OCHA, citing figures from the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD).
According to OCHA, the earthquakes struck communities during the height of winter, leaving hundreds of thousands of people, including small children and the elderly, without access to shelter, food, water, heaters, or medical care in freezing temperatures.
According to the AFAD, over 47,000 buildings have been destroyed or damaged, and over 196,000 people have been evacuated from quake-affected areas as of Tuesday.
The earthquakes have damaged or destroyed essential services such as schools, hospitals, and other medical, maternity, and educational facilities, particularly affecting children and women. According to preliminary assessments by health actors, only one in every seven family health centers is still operational. Over 200,000 pregnant women who require maternal health services were living in affected areas and will give birth under the most difficult circumstances, according to the UN Population Fund.
Turkey has the world’s largest refugee population. According to OCHA, more than 1.74 million refugees live in the 11 earthquake-affected provinces.
Source:IANS
