Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the chief of the World Health Organization, announced on Thursday that he was traveling to Syria, which together with neighboring Turkey, has been devastated by a powerful earthquake that has killed over 21,000 people.
The WHO director tweeted that he was “on my way to #Syria,” where the organization was “providing crucial health care in the areas hit by the recent earthquake, building on our long-standing work across the nation.”
The United Nations also said that Martin Griffiths, its Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief, would visit the earthquake-affected regions in Turkey and Syria this weekend.
The first aid convoy since the deadly earthquake arrived in rebel-held northwest Syria early on Thursday, a border crossing officer at Bab al-Hawa told AFP.
According to officials and medical professionals in the two nations, the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck early on Monday in Turkey and war-torn Syria has claimed over 21,000 lives and completely flattened entire neighborhoods.
The WHO has issued an alert regarding a potential secondary health crisis that might worsen the initial earthquake and harm Turkey and Syria.
Tedros anticipated that the death toll would keep climbing, saying on Wednesday: “With the weather conditions and ongoing aftershocks, we’re in a race against time to save lives.”
“People need shelter, food, clean water and medical care, for injuries resulting from the earthquake, but also for other health needs.”
