Syria: Five days after the first earthquake that shook Syria and Turkey, rescuers were still pulling some survivors from the rubble but they were losing optimism that they would find many more.

UN relief chief Mr. Martin Griffiths landed in Kahramanmaras, a city in southern Turkey, which served as the epicentre of the first 7.8-magnitude earthquake that shook millions of people’s lives. According to authorities and medical personnel, 24,617 individuals died in Turkey and 3,574 in Syria. 28,191 has been confirmed as the final number.

Despite the freezing weather that has made millions of people even more miserable and in need of assistance, tens of thousands of rescuers are searching destroyed neighbourhoods. At least 870,000 people in Turkey and Syria urgently require hot meals, the UN has warned. There may have been up to 5.3 million homelessness cases in Syria alone.

The World Health Organization (WHO) stated that about 26 million people have been impacted by the earthquake and it launched a rapid appeal for $42.8 million to address urgent medical needs. More than 32,000 people from Turkish organisations are reportedly contributing to search and rescue efforts, as per Turkey’s disaster agency. Additionally, there are 8,294 foreign rescuers.

“Soon, the search and rescue people will make way for the humanitarian agencies whose job it is to look after the extraordinary numbers of those affected for the next months,” Mr. Griffiths remarked in a video posted to Twitter.

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