The bodies of a number of earthquake victims in front of a Turkish hospital
Turkey earthquake
The World Health Organization estimates that more than 4,000 buildings collapsed in the earthquake, and about 15 hospitals sustained partial or major damage.
The World Health Organization announced on Saturday that the number of people affected by the devastating earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria this week has reached about 26 million, warning that dozens of hospitals have been damaged.
With the death toll from the earthquake exceeding 25,000, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) on Saturday launched an urgent appeal to raise $42.8 million to help it meet urgent and major health needs.
The organization had already released 16 million dollars from its emergency fund, and had reported that the number of people affected by the earthquake amounted to about 23 million. However, this number rose on Saturday to 26 million, distributed as follows: 15 million in Turkey and 11 million in Syria.
A hospital damaged by the earthquake in Turkey
More than five million of these are considered among the most vulnerable. Among them are about 350,000 elderly people and more than 1.4 million children.
According to estimates by the World Health Organization, more than 4,000 buildings collapsed in the earthquake, and about 15 hospitals suffered partial or major damage.
In Syria, where the health system is crumbling as a result of a war that began in 2011, at least 20 health facilities in the northwest of the country, including four hospitals, have been damaged.
This situation exacerbates the difficulty of providing assistance to the tens of thousands of people who were injured in the disaster.
With the influx of injured people into emergency departments, the World Health Organization warned of a severe disruption of basic health services.
The UN agency said there was an urgent need for immediate trauma care, post-traumatic rehabilitative care, essential medicines, prophylaxis to prevent and control disease outbreaks and mental health care.
“WHO’s goal is to save lives immediately after a disaster, to minimize its eventual health consequences, including mental health, and to quickly restore basic health services to all earthquake-affected populations,” the agency noted.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus visits the wounded in Aleppo
The organization announced that it had airlifted 37 tons of trauma and emergency surgical supplies to Turkey on Thursday, and delivered 35 tons to Syria on Friday.
“These life-saving supplies will be used to treat 100,000 people, in addition to performing 120,000 emergency surgeries in both countries,” she noted.
A third flight carrying similar supplies is expected to arrive in Syria on Monday.
Upon his arrival, Saturday, in Aleppo, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, tweeted, “My heart breaks to see the conditions the survivors are facing,” referring to the severe cold and the great limitations of “shelter centers, food, water, heating, and health care.”