Monday’s powerful earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria could affect up to 23 million people, including 1.4 million children, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) estimate on Tuesday.
Türkiye had a strong capacity to tackle the crisis that emerged following the magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes that shook its southern provinces, WHO’s senior emergencies officer Adelheid Marschang told the UN health agency’s executive committee earlier in Geneva.
Yet, she noted, additional immediate and midterm support will be needed across the border in Syria already suffering under a years-long humanitarian crisis due to civil war and a cholera outbreak.
The total death toll of the deadly earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria is more than 11, 000, and more than 40, 000 injured. The number is likely to rise as rescuers are pulling more people from under the rubble.
