Turkey: UN Relief Coordinator meets families affected by the devastating earthquake

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Mr Griffiths was speaking in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, where recovery efforts are continuing in frigid temperatures.

He met families displaced by the disaster and heard their stories of trauma and devastation.

“I’m here to make sure these people aren’t forgotten either,” he said.

Hope for the survivors

The UN Relief Coordinator also spoke to search and rescue teams as they carried out their operations in the devastated central parts of the city, amid collapsed buildings with earthmoving equipment digging among the rubble.

UN teams are already on the ground, and more than 130 countries have sent responders, sniffer dogs, experts and other personnel.

“There has never been an international response, or a Turkish response, to a natural disaster, as we are seeing here in these terrible days,” Mr. Griffiths said.

He paid tribute to the bravery of people, including parents, who are working around the clock in efforts to rescue their families and children from the rubble – “in the hope that someone else will survive.”

humanitarian support

It is estimated that more than 20,000 people died in the twin earthquakes that struck southeastern Turkey and northern Syria early Monday morning.

Millions more have been made homeless, including Syrians displaced by the 12-year war in their homeland and thousands of refugees who have fled across borders.

For Mr Griffiths, the next stage will be caring for those affected by the tragedy.

“I actually met some of them today,” he said, “people who have lost their homes, their children have no schools to go to, they have no food, they have no money, and they depend on the generosity of the Turkish people, the Turkish government and the international community.”

Mr. Griffiths is expected to make a UN-authorized, operational cross-border visit to Syria in southern Turkey on Sunday before traveling there.

The United Nations and its partners will also launch appeals to the two countries.

In a video posted on Twitter, Mr. Griffiths said: “I hope what we will see is the same kind of generous, immediate and urgent international response to humanitarian needs that we saw for those organizations that are helping people in these cities save lives from the dead.”

Heartbreaking circumstances

Meanwhile, the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, arrived in the Syrian city of Aleppo, on Saturday.

“I am so saddened to see the conditions the survivors are facing – freezing weather and very limited access to shelter, food, water, heating and medical care,” he wrote in a post on his official Twitter account.

In a separate tweet, Tedros recounted how he met two children, Nour and Omar, who lost their parents in the earthquake.

There are no words to express the pain they are going through. Grateful to colleagues and partners who give them the care, comfort and love they need, he wrote.

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