The massive earthquake that has killed thousands in Turkey and Syria may have an impact on up to 23 million people, the WHO said on Tuesday while pledging long-term support.
“Event overview maps show that potentially 23 million people are exposed, including around five million vulnerable populations,” the World Health Organization’s senior emergencies officer Adelheid Marschang said.
She noted that civilian infrastructure and possibly health facilities have been damaged across the impacted region, particularly in Turkey and northwest Syria.
The WHO “considers that the main unmet needs may be in Syria in the immediate and mid-term,” Marschang told the WHO’s executive committee in Geneva.
She spoke as rescuers in Turkey and Syria braved freezing temperatures, aftershocks, and collapsing buildings as they dug for survivors buried by a wave of earthquakes that killed more than 5,000 people.
