World News | Red Cross chief warns of health crisis in stricken Syria

BEIRUT, Feb. 16 (AP) — Syria could face a dangerous outbreak of disease after last week’s devastating earthquake if hundreds of thousands of displaced people don’t get permanent housing soon, the global head of the Red Cross said Thursday. , as Syrians struggle to receive humanitarian aid amid a growing crisis.

Jagan Chapagain, secretary-general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said families living in temporary accommodation without adequate heating were in desperate need of permanent housing.

Read also | Nigeria’s Buhari grants 60-day extension to return old banknotes – latest tweet from Reuters.

“They’re still living in very, very cold school rooms in very basic conditions,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press.

“If this goes on for a long time, there are health implications.”

Read also | North Korea orders girl with same name as Kim Jong Un’s daughter to change name, bans use of name ‘Joo Ae’: report.

He was speaking after returning from Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, which has seen some of the fiercest fighting in the country’s ongoing civil war in years.

Aleppo has a cholera outbreak in late 2022. The quake’s impact on housing, water, fuel and other infrastructure could make another outbreak “possible,” he said, adding that the devastation was also taking a toll on Syrians’ mental health.

“If the conflict broke their hearts, I think this earthquake is breaking their spirits now,” Chapagain said.

The deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake that shook Turkey and Syria a week ago devastated parts of the war-torn country, including a rebel-held enclave in the northwest and nearby government-held areas.

An estimated 3,688 people have died on both sides of the Syrian front, including about 1,400 in government-held towns.

Chapagain added that entire neighborhoods in Aleppo were abandoned, with some residents opting to move to rural areas after the earthquake.

Many Syrians, displaced for the second time since the natural disaster, have left their homes to escape airstrikes and shelling.

The UN refugee agency estimates that 5.3 million Syrians in the affected countries could be left homeless without access to viable shelter and assistance.

Chapagain said rebuilding Syria’s infrastructure, already crippled by the war, should be a priority in the long run. However, Syria’s civil war and economic crisis have complicated the rapid recovery from the earthquake.

The IFRC has raised 200 million Swiss francs ($216.8 million) and hopes to support 2.4 million people across the country over the next two years. Dozens of planes and trucks loaded with humanitarian aid have arrived in government-controlled Syria.

The United Nations has appealed for $397 million to support the nearly five million people in rebel-controlled northwestern Syria, almost all of whom live in poverty.

During his visit to Aleppo, Chapagain said aid, which had been dwindling for years, was now pouring in.

One woman told him that her aid had dwindled in recent years, but “in a way, this earthquake brought back humanitarian aid so[she]could eat food again,” he recalled.

However, he said there were still major shortfalls in essential goods.

“Even some ambulances are struggling to refuel, even some of our own cars are struggling to refuel,” Chapagain said. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)