The situation in the areas affected by the devastating earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria is “apocalyptic”, says the director of the World Food Program of the United Nations (UN), David Beasley.
To give an idea of the magnitude of the chaos that the earthquakes have caused, Beasley said on his Twitter account this Sunday “Imagine the combined population of New York City, Los Angeles, Paris and Rome without a home, electricity, food, water or other essentials. This is exactly how this earthquake is affecting 18 million people in Turkiye and Syria.”
And then Beasley wondered, Where’s the news? Where have the headlines gone?
On Saturday, in another tweet, he noted “You can watch this on TV all you want, but until you are here on the ground, it is impossible to imagine the magnitude of the devastation the earthquake has caused in Türkiye.”
“Antakya was a city of 1.5 million people, now it is a ghost town,” he said.
“There’s only one way to describe this: apocalyptic.”
In accordance with a UN statementBeasley, who concluded a visit to Turkey’s Hatay region in the south of the country on Saturday, also said that the impact of the earthquakes “will be felt for months and years.”
Entire neighborhoods have been bulldozed, homes destroyed, schools and stores closed, lives torn apart. The scale of devastation here is truly incomprehensible,” Beasley said after visiting the Turkish city of Antakya, which was hit by one of the quakes.
In addition, he commented on the situation in Syria, describing it as a “catastrophe upon a catastrophe”, referring to the conflict in the country.
The devastating earthquake occurred after 12 years of unrelenting conflict, and the most affected areas lack the capacity and infrastructure to cope with the impact of a catastrophe of this magnitude.
Unrestricted support for Syria
He stressed the importance of providing humanitarian aid to Syria “through all routes and without any restrictions”, also encouraging “all parties to facilitate access”.
“We have to resume and increase deliveries across border lines and I call on all parties to facilitate access,” he declared.
