Northwest Turkey hit by a magnitude 5.4 earthquake

[Anthea]

WHO $43 million appeal

WHO announces $43 million appeal to scale up response in Syria and Turkiye

The amount is set to increase as the magnitude of the disaster becomes clearer, he said, speaking during a press conference from the Syrian capital, Damascus.

Latest reports put the death toll at more than 33,000, according to international media, with millions more left homeless.

Ramping up operations

Tedros also reported that the Syrian authorities appear open to allowing more border crossings to deliver humanitarian aid into the northwest.

War-ravaged Syria is divided into areas under the control of the Government, opposition forces and armed groups.

WHO is working across all areas affected by the earthquake, which struck on Monday.

The UN agency is also scaling up operations across the country, including in the northwest, where the impact is even worse.

Recent developments welcomed

Tedros stressed the need to take response “to the next level” to reach all populations who require support.

He welcomed the decision by the United States to ease sanctions against Syria in the wake of the tragedy.

“We equally appreciate the recent blanket approval by the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic for the UN for cross-line convoys, as well as measures to increase cross-border access. We hope this continues,” he said.

The WHO chief reported that he had met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad earlier on Sunday afternoon “who indicated he was open to considering additional cross-border access points for this emergency.”

Ready to move

Tedros said he is waiting to move across conflict lines to northwest Syria.

“We're on stand-by actually,” he told journalists. “We can move anytime now through the coastline to the northwest. Based on the blanket permit, we have already permission from this side. We're waiting now to hear from the other side. As soon as we get that we will cross to the northwest.”

After the earthquake struck, WHO immediately accessed its pre-positioned supplies in the northwest and Aleppo, thus making treatment of major injuries possible. Staff also began distributing supplies to health facilities.

WHO is sending medical supplies to Syria to boost the humanitarian response.

WHO is sending medical supplies to Syria to boost the humanitarian response.
Responding to needs

Tedros arrived in Syria on Saturday, where WHO and partners have so far distributed 110 tonnes of medical supplies to affected areas across the country.

A flight is scheduled to arrive in Damascus on Sunday night with vital specialized emergency health supplies for frontline workers.

The UN agency also is supporting surge capacity of frontline specialized medical teams.

Cascading crises

The earthquake is the latest crisis to hit Syria, following the ongoing conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic, cholera outbreaks, and economic decline.

Twelve years of war have “pulverized” the healthcare system, said Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO Emergencies Director. Prior to the earthquake, just 50 per cent of health facilities were functioning, but the true impact is much greater.

“Not only physical damage to the infrastructure itself but the exodus of health workers, the loss of salaries, loss of training,” he said. “It's just that death by a thousand cuts to the system.”

'An unfolding tragedy'

The WHO chief expressed deep respect and admiration for the survivors, first responders and health workers, though pointing to the immense needs they face.

National and international organizations, but also neighbours, mosques, churches and community groups, have been racing to deliver everything from food, clean water and medical care, to a safe space for people to sleep.

Tedros was in Aleppo on Saturday and visited a WHO-supported mobile health clinic distributing medicines to people with conditions such as headaches, anxiety and difficulty sleeping

“WHO and other organizations have trained community workers to offer rapid mental health support, but much more is needed,” he said.

While in the city, Tedros met a young girl called Nour, who lost her parents and suffered a broken arm when their six-storey apartment building collapsed, noting that she “is just one example of an unfolding tragedy that is affecting millions”.

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths visits the Turkish side of Bab Al-Hawa, the single remaining border-crossing authorized by the Security Council for UN aid delivery to north-west Syria

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths visits the Turkish side of Bab Al-Hawa, the single remaining border-crossing authorized by the Security Council for UN aid delivery to north-west Syria

Cross-border aid

The UN’s top humanitarian official continues his mission in the region, OCHA reported on Sunday.

Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths travelled to the Turkish side of Baba Al-Hawa, the only remaining border crossing for UN aid delivery into northwest Syria authorized by the Security Council.

Mr. Griffiths also visited a UN hub in Hatay, where he witnessed the transshipment and monitoring of 10 trucks loaded with aid provided by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) prior to setting off to Syria.

This was the fourth UN cross-border aid convoy since the earthquake struck northern Türkiye on Monday, affecting people on both sides of the border.

The first convoy, with six trucks, crossed into Syria on Thursday following a three-day temporary disruption from damaged key roads.

A second convoy of 14 IOM trucks crossed on Friday, followed by a third the next day comprised of 22 trucks containing medicines, cholera test kits, blankets, hygiene kits solar lamps and other relief items.

OCHA said aftershocks are reportedly continuing in northwest Syria, forcing people to keep fleeing their homes.

Civil defense teams concluded search and rescue operations on Saturday and have moved onto removing debris and recovering bodies, however efforts are being hampered by fuel shortages and a lack of machinery and vehicles.

‘Put politics aside’: UN Envoy

Meanwhile, the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, arrived in Damascus on Sunday on a pre-planned visit.

He affirmed that humanitarians will do all they can to access everyone who needs help, and underlined his efforts to rally support.

“We are reaching out of course to bilateral countries, we are mobilizing funding and we're trying to tell everyone put politics aside. This is a time to unite behind a common effort to support the Syrian people,” he said.

Mr. Pedersen also stressed the need for crossline and cross-border access. “I'm in close touch with the UN humanitarian family, we're working together to try to mobilize this support and that of course is my key message during this visit to Syria.”

https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/02/1133407

[Anthea]

I stress Médecins Sans Frontières because they are already working in that part of Syria, therefore they are well aware of all the difficulties also, unlike almost every other aid agency, Médecins Sans Frontières could not be frightened off by US sanctions

Médecins Sans Frontières
https://msf.org.uk/

or

Sadly many members of Disasters Emergency Committee, were prevented from going into Syria immediately after the quake when they could have saved many more lives. As US intends to reinstate the sanctions in a few months, doe this mean that other agencies will be pulling out

Disasters Emergency Committee
https://www.dec.org.uk/

The yet unknown MILLIONS in both Syria and Turkey are going to need ongoing help for more than just a couple of months

I seriously believe that the best ways to help the survivors is to donate to:

Médecins Sans Frontières
https://msf.org.uk/

And / or collect items yourselves and send trucks over to Syria and Turkey

Please do NOT send money to GoFundMe or Appeals by unheard of organizations advertising their bank account details online, your money will help save lives so make sure it get to the people who need it the most

I have many Kurdish friends who smoke: I suggest they STOP smoking and spend the money on providing much needed help to their fellow Kurds

[Anthea]

DEC Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal

Oxfam, together with local partner organisations and our partners across the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), need your support to reach people affected by the earthquakes in Türkiye (Turkey) and Syria. This is an urgent appeal for assistance

How you can help

Emergency food and shelter

In both Türkiye (Turkey) and Syria, we’re working as part of a coordinated effort, with local partners, international agencies, and civil society groups, to support survivors in freezing conditions with supplies like food, clean water and shelter.

What people need urgently

Your donation can help get life-saving supplies to people who have lost everything. The most urgent needs include emergency shelter and winter kits as well as food, clean water, sanitation and hygiene

DEC charities and their local partners are responding, working with locally-led relief efforts. Our teams in Türkiye (Turkey) and Syria are working with partner organisations to assess the types of immediate and longer-term support that are needed to help people in the aftermath of the devastating earthquakes. The emergency response is expected to include water and sanitation, shelter and food support as well as longer-term rehabilitation and reconstruction.

Any donation, big or small, matters right now.

https://www.oxfam.org.uk/_donate/?amoun ... paign=1485

[Anthea]

What is MSF doing?

MSF teams have been responding in northern Syria since the first hours of the disaster

Syria-Turkey earthquakes

In the early hours of Monday 6 February, two major earthquakes hit northwest Syria and southeast Turkey (Türkiye) causing devastation on a vast scale.

Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) teams – already working in northern Syria – immediately launched an emergency response and began treating patients and delivering supplies

According to official estimates, a staggering 21,000 people have died and thousands more have been injured across the two countries. However, the full extent of the disaster is still unknown.

The situation is extremely fast-moving. The information on this page is correct as of 9 February and is likely to change.[/list]

What is MSF doing?

MSF teams have been responding in northwest Syria since the first hours of the disaster.

In Aleppo and Idlib, northern Syria, MSF-supported hospitals saw more than 3,400 injured patients in the first two days

Our teams donated emergency trauma and surgery kits to 23 other hospitals and clinics in the region

We have dispatched expert staff to support hard-hit healthcare facilities and have opened triage tents outside four ward

Mobile clinics have begun at reception centres and camps, offering essential medical consultations and psychological first aid

We have deployed our ambulances and are supporting 90 other ambulances to transfer patients

Our teams have distributed thousands of relief kits to affected families, including blankets, hygiene supplies and food items at sites across Aleppo and Idlib

Our emergency teams are working with authorities in Türkiye to assess the humanitarian needs and are ready to assist

How can I help MSF in Syria and Turkey?

Right now our teams are treating patients in Syria and assessing medical needs in Turkey following the devastating earthquake. This is only possible because of donations from people like you.

By giving to our emergency fund today, you will be helping ensure we can respond to emergencies around the world, including to the earthquake in Syria and Turkey.

The crisis: In-depth

The humanitarian situation in Syria was precarious before the earthquakes struck. The disaster will have massive consequences for the millions already living in vulnerable conditions.

After 12 years of civil war, around 14.6 million people in Syria need aid. The country also hosts the largest number of displaced people in the world at around 6.9 million, mostly women and children. Thousands more people will now be homeless.

It’s important to note that some of the hardest-hit areas of southern Türkiye were also home to large numbers of Syrian refugees who had fled the conflict.

Access to healthcare has long been critical in northwest Syria. However, medical staff and facilities across the region have been severely impacted by the earthquakes.

Hospitals have been damaged or destroyed, including two MSF maternity centres that have been forced to evacuate due to the risk of collapse. Sadly, two MSF staff members have also died, while many others have lost family members.

Beyond the initial life-saving response, the healthcare crisis is now likely to evolve:

Millions of people will need mental health support, families facing freezing conditions will need shelter and basic supplies, and vulnerable people with existing chronic conditions will need continuity of care. There is also the risk of disease outbreaks, with northern Syria dealing with a widespread cholera outbreak that our teams were already responding to

MSF in Syria: before the earthquakes

A brutal civil war has raged in Syria for over a decade, killing hundreds of thousands of people, displacing millions more, and causing widespread destruction and suffering. Civilian areas have been routinely bombed and access to healthcare remains extremely poor.

MSF has been present in Syria since 2009. However, our teams currently operate amid severe insecurity that can hamper humanitarian aid projects.

In areas where we can negotiate access and assurances of our staff’s safety, we run or support hospitals and health centres, and provide healthcare in displacement camps. We also support existing healthcare facilities through donations of medicines and equipment, the remote training of staff, and financial aid to cover running costs.

MSF and natural disasters

Within minutes, natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis and hurricanes can overwhelm an entire population. Thousands of people can be injured or traumatised by the loss of family, friends and homes, while access to clean water, healthcare and transport can be cut off.

MSF has more than 50 years of experience delivering rapid and coordinated medical responses to protect survivors of natural disasters

To Donate:
https://msf.org.uk/secure/donate/emergency/102001

The above information is the copyright of MSF and has been unedited by myself

I have donated to MSF because it's quick actions has undoubtedly helped to saved lives while ALL other agencies wasted time finding out if they dare enter Syria in opposition to US sanctions

[Anthea]

New aftershock:

4 magnitude earthquake 9 km from Aşağı Karafakılı, Hatay, Turkey
UTC time: Monday, February 13, 2023 11:59 AM
UK time Monday, 13 February 2023 at 11:59 GMT

More than 36,000 people have been killed
Tens of thousands injured
Millions homeless

Between the 141st and 163rd hour since the quake hit, at least 41 people have been rescued from beneath the rubble n Turkey

Rescuers continue to search the rubble but authorities have warned the chances of finding survivors are becoming increasingly slim

UN attempts “to correct” failures in Syria: A senior UN official has promised to turn the organization's focus to the people of northwest Syria who "rightly feel abandoned." The delivery of urgent supplies to the area has been complicated by a long-running civil war between opposition forces and the Syrian government

NO COMMENT

[Anthea]

4.8 magnitude earthquake 6 km from Göksun, Kahramanmaraş, Turkey

UTC time: Monday, February 13, 2023 19:20 PM

GMT: Monday, 13 February 2023 at 19:20 GMT

4.8 magnitude is strong enough to bring down already weakened buildings

[Anthea]

Death toll exceeds 4500

A week after the devastating earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey, the number of deaths and the outcome of material damage is still not final

The Syrian authorities warn of damaged buildings that could be unstable and prone to collapse in the aftermath of the Syria earthquake whose death toll, so far, rests at 4,500 individuals.

Despite the expectations that this number will rise in the coming days as hope for finding survivors underneath the rubble diminished, some people were found, alive, today, after having survived 184 hours beneath the rubble.

Correspondents in Syria

Al-Mayadeen's correspondent to the al-Amriya neighborhood in Aleppo pointed out that it is anticipated that the local authorities will likely move "to demolish more than 50 buildings that are unstable in the neighborhood."

For his part, Al Mayadeen correspondent to Lattakia confirmed, "The needs of those affected by the earthquake include everything, especially given that they left their homes with only their clothes on."

As for Hama, Al Mayadeen's correspondent there indicated that the Syrian authorities are working to keep citizens away from buildings prone to collapse for fear of them falling and causing further damage, pointing to "appeals for more aid for those affected by the earthquake."

For his part, the deputy governor of Hama, Ali Abdel Salam, confirmed to Al Mayadeen that "so far, the death toll in the province has reached 48."

Abdel Salam said, "More than 4,000 homes in Hama were damaged due to the earthquake, and their condition is currently being assessed."

Al Mayadeen correspondent in the region also noted that a delegation of Syrian artists, headed by union leader Mohsen Ghazi, visited one of the shelters for the earthquake victims in the governorate.

Ghazi thanked everyone who "contributed to providing assistance to the victims of the earthquake in Syria," and added that the union launched a donation campaign to help those affected by the earthquake throughout Syria.

Popular Mobilization Forces

The correspondent of Al Mayadeen to Aleppo stated that the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces continue to send aid trucks to Aleppo, under the supervision of the Chief of Staff of the Mobilization Forces, Abdul Aziz Al-Muhammadawi.

The correspondent further added that "200 aid trucks for the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) arrived in the city of Aleppo, and 200 others are awaiting arrival today," and noted that in parallel to that, "engineering teams are demolishing one of the buildings damaged by the earthquake in the city of Aleppo."

In turn, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Popular Mobilization Forces, from the Al-Amriya neighborhood in Aleppo, through Al Mayadeen, called on the Iraqis to donate construction materials and fuel to the Syrians.

The follow-up director of the PMF explained that "the engineering effort in Aleppo is harnessed to lift all rubble, including those left behind as ruins of war."

The official also stated that the PMF "will develop an action plan for coordination with local governments."

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... d-building

[Anthea]

Emirates humanitarian airbridge

Emirates launches humanitarian airbridge to transport emergency aid to victims of the Turkey-Syria earthquake

In coordination with International Humanitarian City (IHC), flights are planned to carry around 100 tonnes of urgent relief items like blankets, tents, medical supplies and other humanitarian goods

Emergency aid on flights from Dubai to Istanbul will make their way to earthquake stricken sites in southern Turkey and hard-hit cities in Syria

Dubai, UAE, 10 February 2023: In the wake of the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, Emirates is setting up an airbridge with the International Humanitarian City (IHC), to transport urgent relief supplies, medical items and equipment to support on-ground aid efforts and search and rescue activities in both countries.

The first shipments are due to go out today on EK 121 and EK 117, consisting of high thermal blankets and family tents from UNHCR, followed by World Health Organisation (WHO) and World Food Programme (WFP) relief cargo of medical kits and shelter items, co-ordinated by the IHC in Dubai.

In the coming days, more consignments of blankets, tents, shelter kits, flash lights, water distribution ramps and trauma and emergency health kits will be transported on Emirates.

Emirates SkyCargo plans to dedicate cargo space for around 100 tonnes of humanitarian relief goods over the course of the next two weeks across its daily flight operations to Istanbul. The critical emergency supplies carried on Emirates will then be delivered by local organisations to affected areas in southern Turkey and northern Syria, supporting on-ground responders and providing much needed aid to the hundreds of thousands of people impacted by the earthquakes.

HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates’ Chairman and Chief Executive, said: “We stand with the Turkish and Syrian people and are working with experts like the International Humanitarian City to help provide urgent relief to those affected and displaced by the earthquakes, as well as support the complex recovery efforts on the ground.

Emirates has extensive experience in supporting humanitarian relief efforts, and through its three daily flights to Istanbul will offer regular and consistent widebody capacity for relief items and medical supplies.

Emirates also supports the UAE’s ongoing humanitarian efforts to support Turkey and Syria, and Dubai’s unique position as the world’s largest international aid logistics hub means that we can efficiently reach disaster stricken areas and the most vulnerable people as quickly as possible.”

His Excellency Mohammed Ibrahim Al Shaibani, Chairman of the Supreme Committee for the Supervision of IHC: "The IHC remains committed to providing the people affected by the earthquakes with the humanitarian support and resources they need.

We are taking urgent action by facilitating airlifts of vital medical supplies, shelter items and other relief goods from the UNHCR, World Health Organization (WHO) and World Food Programme (WFP) to address the pressing demand for aid in the affected regions."

The freight division of Emirates has a long-standing partnership with the IHC, enabling the airline to nimbly and quickly lead on numerous relief missions, deploying humanitarian supplies to communities around the world impacted by natural disasters, medical emergencies, global outbreaks and other crises.

Over the years, Emirates has also supported humanitarian flights in partnership with the Airbus Foundation, and since 2013, Emirates A380 ferry flights have transported over 120 tonnes of food and vital emergency equipment to those in need.

https://www.emirates.com/media-centre/e ... arthquake/

Slowly but surely more aid is arriving, the first people on the ground in Syria were MSF, with swift support from Iraq, Iran, Russia and Venezuela, sadly, due to US sanctions other support for Syria was sparse and even non-existent

[Anthea]

Scammers profit from quake

Scammers are using the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria to try to trick people into donating to fake causes, security experts have warned

These scams claim to raise money for survivors, left without heat or water following the disasters that have killed more than 35,000 people.

But instead of helping those in need, scammers are channelling donations away from real charities, and into their own PayPal accounts and cryptocurrency wallets

We've identified some of the main methods used by scammers, and tools you can use to double check before donating.

On TikTok Live, content creators can make money by receiving digital gifts. Now, TikTok accounts are posting photos of devastation, looped footage and recordings of TVs showing rescue efforts, whilst asking for donations.

Captions include phrases like "Let's help Turkey", "Pray for Turkey" and "Donate for earthquake victims".

One account, which was live for over three hours, showed a pixelated aerial image of destroyed buildings, accompanied by sound effects of explosions. Off-camera, a male voice laughs and speaks in Chinese. The video's caption is "Let's help Turkey. Donation".

TikTok livestreams show photos with sound effects and ask for donations

Another video shows a picture of a distressed child running from an explosion. The livestream host's message is "Please help achieve this goal"- an apparent plea for TikTok gifts.

But the photo of the child is not from last week's earthquakes. A reverse image search found the same image had been posted on Twitter in 2018 with the caption "Stop Afrin Genocide", referring to a city in north-western Syria where Turkish forces and their allies in the Syrian opposition ousted a Kurdish militia in that year.

Another word of caution about gifting on TikTok: a BBC investigation found TikTok takes up to 70% of the proceeds of digital gifts, although TikTok says it takes less than that.

A TikTok spokesperson told the BBC: "We are deeply saddened by the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria and are contributing to aid earthquake relief efforts. "We're also actively working to prevent people from scamming and misleading community members who want to help."

On Twitter, people are sharing emotive images alongside links to cryptocurrency wallets asking for donations.

One account posted the same appeal eight times in 12 hours, with an image of a firefighter holding a small child amid collapsed buildings.

The picture used, however, is not real. Greek newspaper OEMA reports that it was created by the Major General of the Aegean fire brigade Panagiotis Kotridis using Artificial Intelligence software Midjourney.

AI image generators often make mistakes, and Twitter users were quick to spot that this firefighter has six digits on his right hand. To verify this further, we asked colleagues from the BBC's tech research hub the Blue Room to try to generate similar images using the same software.

They asked the software for an "image of firefighter in aftermath of an earthquake rescuing young child and wearing helmet with Greek flag", and were given these options:

Furthermore, one of the crypto wallet addresses had been used in scam and spam tweets from 2018. The other address had been posted on Russian social media website VK alongside pornographic content.

When the BBC contacted the person tweeting the appeal, they denied it was a scam. They said they had poor connectivity, but answered our questions on Twitter using Google Translate.

"My aim is to be able to help people affected by the earthquake if I manage to raise funds", they said. "Now people are cold in the disaster area, and especially babies do not have food. I can prove this process with receipts."

However, they have not yet sent us receipts or proof of their identity.

Elsewhere on Twitter, scammers create fake fundraising accounts and post links to PayPal.

Ax Sharma, cyber security expert at Sonatype, says these accounts retweet news articles and reply to tweets by celebrities and businesses to gain visibility.

"They create fake disaster relief accounts that appear to be legitimate organisations or news outlets, but then drive funds to their own PayPal addresses," he told the BBC.

One example is @TurkeyRelief, which joined Twitter in January, has just 31 followers, and touts for donations via PayPal. The PayPal account has so far received US$900 in donations. But that includes $500 from the creator of the page, who donated to their own cause. Mr Sharma says this is "to make the fundraiser appear authentic".

It's one of more than 100 fundraisers launched on PayPal in recent days asking for donations to support those affected by the earthquakes, some of which are fake.

Mr Sharma says donors should be especially wary of accounts that say they are in Turkey, because PayPal has not been operating in Turkey since 2016.

"There are real charities outside of Turkey using PayPal, but when these fundraisers say they're in Turkey, that's a red flag," he says.

Other things to be vigilant of are anonymous donations and appeals that have raised small amounts. You would expect real charities to have "significant funds" according to Mr Sharma, yet many of the PayPal fundraisers have less than £100.

More than 100 fundraisers have launched on PayPal since the earthquakes struck, some of which are scams

PayPal has suspended the fraudulent account. A PayPal spokesperson told the BBC: "While the vast majority of people using PayPal to accept donations have the best intentions, there are inevitably some who attempt to prey on the charitable nature and generosity of others.

"PayPal teams are always working diligently to scrutinise and ban accounts, particularly in the wake of events like the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, so that donations go to intended causes."

Twitter has also suspended @TurkeyRelief, but the company did not reply to requests for comment.

How to avoid scams and donate safely

Look up charities on your national charity register, such as the UK charity register or the IRS in the US

If you suspect a scam, report it to Action Fraud in the UK or the social media platform

Emotional language, photos and videos are used to pull at heart strings

Some scams say they're affiliated with real charities or governments. If you want to donate to that charity or government organisation, look up their website and donate directly to them

It's common to see the same crypto addresses and websites recycled and adapted to scam people out of money following any breaking news story. We investigated scammers' tactics in depth following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64599553

I sincerely hope that our followers have taken note of my warnings

[Anthea]

Mother and baby rescued twice

A Syrian mother and her newborn baby are recovering after being rescued from the rubble of her earthquake-hit home twice in a week, a charity says

Dima was seven months pregnant when last Monday's earthquake caused part of her house in Jindayris to fall down.

She suffered minor injuries and later gave birth to a boy, Adnan, at a hospital in Afrin supported by the Syrian American Medical Society (Sams).

They returned to the house, only for it to collapse fully three days later.

Adnan was brought back to Afrin's al-Shifa Hospital by rescuers in a critical condition, suffering from severe dehydration and jaundice, while Dima was treated for a serious lower limb injury.

Dr Abdulkarim Hussein al-Ibrahim, a paediatrician, told the BBC via WhatsApp on Monday that the baby was responding well to treatment.

"Adnan's condition... has significantly improved," he said. "We are just feeding him and [providing] the rest of his needs through intravenous drips."

Video footage released by Sams showed Adnan sleeping peacefully inside an incubator with his wrist hooked up to a drip.

Dima has been discharged from hospital once again and is living in a tent along with her husband, Abdul Majid, and their nine nieces and nephews. She has been travelling to Afrin to visit Adnan in hospital every day.

Her family was forced to return to her partially destroyed home after she gave birth because there was no alternative shelter available in Jindayris, one of the worst-hit towns in opposition-held north-western Syria.

They have also not received any other aid since the earthquake, like tens of thousands of others who have been affected.

Even before the disaster, 4.1 million people - most of them women and children - were relying on humanitarian assistance to survive in the region, which is the last bastion of the jihadists and rebels who have been fighting forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad for 12 years.

Most recent Earthquake:

4.8 magnitude earthquake 6 km from Göksun, Kahramanmaraş
15 hours ago
UTC time: Monday, February 13, 2023 19:20 PM
GMT: Monday, 13 February 2023 at 19:20 GMT

Anything above a 4 magnitude quake could bring down more already damage buildings

Even without any more earthquakes, many of the buildings have been weakened so badly that they are at immediate danger of collapse

[Anthea]

Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Clashes between armed groups in Idlib countryside looking to seize the aid being delivered to earthquake victims.

Nothing more known at this moment in time

[Anthea]

Journalist Omar Kayed from Kahramanmaras: Two young men rescued alive from under the rubble, attempts to dig tunnels to reach three girls trapped under the rubble and thought to be still alive.

[Anthea]

4.4 magnitude earthquake Yayladağı, Hatay

UTC time: Tuesday, February 14, 2023 11:54 AM

GMT: Tuesday, 14 February 2023 at 11:54 GMT

However desperate people are for shelter, they must stay away from buildings

There is no way of knowing what will happen next, quakes might completely stop (as I thought they had) or (I just do not want to think of the or)

Just discovered the OR

4.4 magnitude earthquake 39 km from Latakia, Latakia, Syria

UTC time: Tuesday, February 14, 2023 13:44 PM

GMT time: Tuesday, 14 February 2023 at 13:44 GMT

[Anthea]

Ground is still settling so best to avoid buildings

I have to stress:
Nobody is sure what will happen next
It is expected that the aftershocks will keep easing off

4.2 magnitude earthquake 4 km from Darende, Malatya

UTC time: Tuesday, February 14, 2023 23:14 PM

GMT: Tuesday, 14 February 2023 at 23:14 GMT

[Anthea]

Barzani Charity Foundation

The Erbil-based Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF) on Tuesday distributed the second batch of humanitarian aid to the residents of the Kurdish region of Afrin in northern Syria following deadly quakes

Afrin region in northern Syria, including Jindris town, were among areas strongly-hit by last week’s deadly twin quakes which shook Turkey and Syria. Over 5,000 people have been killed by the natural disaster.

BCF recently started sending humanitarian aid to Afrin. On Tuesday, it delivered the second batch of aid to the region. The aid consisted of 620 tents, 16,000 blankets, and a large number of the goods.

“The goods provided by the Barzani Charity Foundation are very necessary for the camps. This includes blankets and food as well as children’s needs and medicine. This was really very necessary and important for the people of Afrin and Jindris,” Ahmed Hassan, representative of Afrin people, told Rudaw.

Ahmed Yousef is a member of the Afrin People’s Council.

“We thank the Barzani Charity Foundation for being with us. They were the first ones to enter the liberated areas of Syria. They stood with Syrians, including Kurds, Arabs and Turkmens. All sorts of aid has arrived, including material and mental. They have brought anything that can serve people, such as medical equipment,” he said.

Nadwa Hussein is a resident of Jindris.

“When we came, an earthquake took place and [the house] fell on us. It was raining in the morning and the Hajj was crying but there was no one to take him out,” he said.

BCF is expected to send more humanitarian aid to the region.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/14022023