On Thursday, the Syria Response Coordinators (SRCOs) issued a report on the humanitarian situation in northwestern Syria ten days after the earthquake that struck the region.
The organization said that the number of displaced people documented after ten days reached 171,843 people, with counting still ongoing. The number of displaced people living in shelters reached 35,843 people: equivalent to 7,122 families, distributed over 172 centers in Idleb and rural Aleppo.
The organization indicated that United Nations aid remains minimal. Within one week, UN aid extended to only 114 trucks (93 percent of them through the Bab al-Hawa crossing), despite the opening of two additional crossings. An additional 24 UN trucks are expected to enter via the Bab al-Hawa and Bab Al-Salama crossings.
The organization stressed the existence of a great politicization of incoming humanitarian aid, especially by the United Nations, with huge amounts of humanitarian aid being channelled to the areas controlled by the Syrian regime. This is occurring despite the United Nations knowing that the affected people are distributed in Syria as follows: 88 percent in the northwestern areas of Syria and just 12 percent in the areas of the Syrian regime. However, the Syrian regime is receiving 90 percent of the aid designated for the victims of the earthquake.
The organization indicated that Syrian civil society organizations in northwestern Syria were able to absorb the initial shock, but due to the significant weakness of the supply of humanitarian aid, they are unable to implement the required tasks and projects.
It added that the Syrian regime is obstructing the entry of humanitarian aid through the new crossings under many pretexts. This phenomenon was observed through just one convoy passing the Bab al-Salama crossing, while no aid has yet entered through the Al-Rai crossing. It is known that the Al Rai crossing covers an area that includes more than 600,000 civilians, more than a third of whom were affected by the recent earthquake.
The organization stressed that there is general dissatisfaction with the delay in the arrival of United Nations humanitarian aid. The amount of local aid, as well as from local and Turkish organizations, amounted to 75 percent of the total aid contributed; meanwhile, just 25 percent came from the United Nations.
The organization indicated that the United Nations has not yet taken its humanitarian and moral obligations seriously toward those affected by the earthquake in the region and bears full responsibility for the failure of humanitarian response operations toward those affected in northern Syria.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
