Haiti: Amid rising hunger levels, ‘world cannot wait for disaster before it acts’, WFP warns

Haiti: Amid rising hunger levels, ‘world cannot wait for disaster before it acts’, WFP warns

“Haiti can’t wait,” said Jean-Martin Bauer, World Food Programme (WFP) Country Director for the country. “We cannot wait for the scale of the problem to be expressed in deaths before the world responds, but that is where we are heading.” Half the population – 4.9 million people – are now struggling to access food, according…

Read More
1.5 million now homeless in Türkiye after quake disaster, warn UN development experts

1.5 million now homeless in Türkiye after quake disaster, warn UN development experts

“This makes this clearly the largest earthquake disaster in Türkiye’s history and perhaps the largest natural disaster the country has ever faced,” said Louisa Vinton, UN Development Programme (UNDP) Türkiye Resident Representative.  Two further earthquakes measuring 6.4 and 5.8 on the Richter Scale killed six more on the Türkiye-Syria border on Monday, with “another 294…

Read More
Children sleep in streets, too afraid to go home after quake disaster

Children sleep in streets, too afraid to go home after quake disaster

“Even without verified numbers it’s tragically clear the number of children killed, the number of children orphaned is going to keep on rising”,” said UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson James Elder. In Türkiye, the total number of children living in the 10 provinces before the emergency was 4.6 million, and 2.5 million in Syria. Growing…

Read More
First UN aid convoy reaches Syria’s quake-hit northwest since disaster

First UN aid convoy reaches Syria’s quake-hit northwest since disaster

“Aid, life-saving aid, is desperately needed by civilians wherever they are irrespective of borders and boundaries,” he told journalists in Geneva. “We need it urgently, through the fastest, most direct, and most effective routes. They need more of absolutely everything.” According to UN aid coordinating office, OCHA, six trucks carrying “shelter items and non-food item…

Read More
Earthquake disaster: ‘We must put people first’ urges Guterres in race to save lives

Earthquake disaster: ‘We must put people first’ urges Guterres in race to save lives

In a heartfelt appeal based on his years of visiting the devastated area, as Secretary-General and previously as head of the UN refugee agency UNHCR, Antonio Guterres said that what had been a “centre of solidarity is now an epicentre of suffering.” ‘Nightmare on top of nightmare’ “People are facing nightmare on top of nightmare. The…

Read More
Earthquake disaster latest: fresh snow compounds Syrians’ misery

Earthquake disaster latest: fresh snow compounds Syrians’ misery

“We have already a very vulnerable situation; people (are) already vulnerable, not capable of taking care of themselves…and all of a sudden comes this,” said El-Mostafa Benlamlih, UN Resident Coordinator for Syria. Progress lost “All the achievements we had before, anybody who had a small business has lost that business, anybody who could go to school…

Read More
Türkiye, Syria quake latest: full scale of disaster still unfolding, UN humanitarians warn

Türkiye, Syria quake latest: full scale of disaster still unfolding, UN humanitarians warn

According to the Government of Türkiye, at least 3,381 people died and more than 20,000 were injured after a 7.8 magnitude quake struck close to the southern city of Gaziantep early on Monday, followed by another 7.5 magnitude earthquake several hours later. Almost 6,000 buildings have reportedly collapsed in the country, too, said Jens Laerke,…

Read More