UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner was among officials from across the UN system who participated in an international donors’ conference to support the two countries, held in Brussels on Monday.

The UN is “committed to step up and deploy our assets across the development and humanitarian spheres to stand with; and deliver for communities in Türkiye and Syria,” he said.

Staggering needs

The double earthquakes struck on 6 February, displacing roughly 3.3 million people in Türkiye and destroying some 650,000 apartment buildings and houses.

Over half a million people are now homeless in neighbouring Syria, where needs were already at their highest level in 12 years of war, with around 70 per cent of the population – 15.3 million people – requiring humanitarian assistance.

Mr. Steiner stressed that access to basic services and livelihoods is a must for a more sustainable recovery to avoid vulnerability from deepening.

Funding the response

“That means providing emergency assistance to enable people to survive from day-to-day, always the number one priority,” he said.

“It also involves contributing the funds they will need to start returning to normality, to start working again, and to start piecing back together the communities that lays in ruins around them.”

The UN continues to deploy emergency teams and relief operations in both countries. However, a $1 billion appeal for Türkiye is less than 17 per cent funded, he said, while a $398 million flash appeal for Syria has so far received nearly $290 million.

Leadership and generosity

Mr. Steiner said the UN counts on the leadership, solidarity, and generosity of international donors to help to generate significant financing for recovery initiatives, which include debris removal, restoration of incomes and livelihoods, and rehabilitation of critical infrastructure.

“At this tragic moment for the people of Türkiye and Syria, your support will help to light the candles that will illuminate a way out of this darkness, and these candles cannot flicker; they must light the path to recovery,” he said.

Crisis atop crisis

For Syrians, the earthquake has been “akin to the effect of COVID-19 infecting a sick body weakened by 12 years of crisis,” the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in the country, El-Mostafa Benlamlih, told the conference.

In addition to the 500,000 Syrians now displaced, thousands more have lost access to basic services and livelihoods, he reported. Furthermore, shelters, camps, and informal settlements are overcrowded, violence and abuse are on the rise, and the threat of cholera is looming.

“Thousands of men, women, children, orphans, and vulnerable people need shelter, food, medicine, blankets, toilets, water, electricity, sewerage, education, health services, and protection,” he said. “Above all, they need dignity, jobs, and legitimate options in life. If left without options, people will seek alternatives elsewhere.”

Mr. Benlamlih warned against “business as usual”, as assistance must lift Syrians out of poverty, reduce vulnerabilities, and break the cycle of dependency on aid.

“Millions of men, women, and children in Syria need our support,” he said. “Let us focus on people not on politics. We need your support, we need funds, and we need access.”

Aid update

Meanwhile, the UN reported that in Government-controlled areas in Syria, humanitarian partners have provided assistance to 324,000 people in February and 170,000 people so far this month, primarily in the most affected governorates of Aleppo, Hama, and Lattakia.

Every day since 9 February, an average of 22 trucks carrying aid provided by seven UN agencies have crossed from Türkiye into north-west Syria, using the three available border crossings.

“Our humanitarian colleagues warn about the lack of resources to replenish emergency stocks, with the main Humanitarian Response Plan for Syria being only 5.7 per cent funded,” said UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq, speaking during the daily media briefing at UN Headquarters in New York.

Aid partners report that their emergency response stocks have been depleted, putting operations at risk unless urgent funding is made available, he said.

He added that the Syrian healthcare system, which was already overwhelmed before the earthquake, is also at risk of collapse in some areas, depriving people in need of life-saving medical services.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said millions of children are at risk amid cholera outbreaks in Malawi and Mozambique. Both countries face flooding and damage caused by the cyclone, leading to death, displacement, and the devastation of infrastructure and social services. The after-effects have crippled access to health and other basic services.

Risks are rising

One week after cyclone Freddy made landfall for a second time in Mozambique, risks are rising.

“We are now facing a very real risk of a rapidly accelerating cholera outbreak in Mozambique, a disease which is particularly dangerous for young children, especially those who are malnourished,” said Maria Luisa Fornara, UNICEF Representative to the country.

“UNICEF is working closely with the Government to urgently restore access to health, water, hygiene, and sanitation interventions to areas hit by the cyclone, and to prevent and treat cholera, but additional support is needed to meet the rapidly growing needs of children and families.”

Cholera cases quadruple

Thanks to preparation efforts by the Government of Mozambique, the number of deaths and people displaced by the cyclone appears to have been lower than for past cyclones of similar magnitude, UNICEF said.

Still, reported cholera cases have almost quadrupled – to almost 10,700 – since early February and more than 2,300 cases have been reported in Mozambique in the past week alone, the agency said.

Even prior to the cyclone, Malawi and Mozambique were among the countries most seriously affected by the cholera outbreak that has, in 2023 alone, resulted in more than 68,000 cases across 11 countries in the eastern and southern Africa region, the agency reported.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has also issued an emergency appeal.

Malawi: growing death toll

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths released $5.5 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to assist cyclone-affected people in Malawi, as the devastating toll of floods and mudslides in the country’s southern region continues to rise.

UNICEF estimated that 4.8 million children are in humanitarian need.

Visiting flood-ravaged communities on 16 March, UN Resident Coordinator for Malawi, Rebecca Adda-Dontoh pledged UN support.

“The destruction and suffering that I witnessed in southern Malawi is the human face of the global climate crisis,” she said. “The people I met with—many of whom have lost their homes and loved ones—have done nothing to cause this crisis. We, as the United Nations, stand in full solidarity with the people of Malawi at this tragic time and we call on the international community to do the same.”

Broad ongoing efforts

Ongoing efforts funded by the CERF grant are addressing water, sanitation, and hygiene needs, shelter, vital non-food items, food, healthcare and the prevention of gender-based violence and child protection risks, she said.

“People are traumatized, and many have lost their homes, their belongings and their livelihoods,” Ms. Adda-Dontoh said. “In support of the Government-led response, through this CERF grant, we will aim to assist those who have been hardest-hit with life-saving and life-sustaining assistance.”

The appeal comes after a convoy of more than 100 trucks transporting food and other assistance was ambushed on Friday in Jonglei state.

Two contracted drivers were shot, one fatally, and another person died in a related road accident. A humanitarian worker was injured and is currently receiving treatment.

Escalating incidents

The attacked marked the latest in a series of escalating incidents targeting convoys and aid workers in the country, the UN humanitarian affairs office (OCHA) said on Monday.

More than 20 violent incidents were reported in January alone – more than double the number in January 2022.

“The humanitarian community is appalled by the continued attacks targeting humanitarians and their assets; these recurring acts of violence disrupt the delivery of life-saving assistance and must end,” said Meshack Malo, interim UN Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan.

Convoys temporarily halted

Due to the attack, the World Food Programme (WFP) has been forced to temporarily pause its convoy movements out of Bor, Jonglei state, for the second time in as many weeks.  The UN agency is reassessing mitigation measures.

“This corridor is critical for our food prepositioning ahead of the rainy season when roads are inaccessible and more than one million people in Jonglei and Pibor rely on the humanitarian food assistance that we transport along this route,” said Mary-Ellen McGroarty, WFP Country Director in South Sudan.

She stressed that the safety and security of staff and contractors is of the utmost importance, adding that when attacks occur, “it is women, men, and children in desperate need of assistance who suffer the most.”

Dangerous work

South Sudan is among the most dangerous places in the world for humanitarians, according to OCHA. Nine aid workers were killed last year, and nearly 420 incidents were reported. Before this latest attack, three aid workers lost their lives in the line of duty.

This year, an estimated 9.4 million people in the country will need assistance or protection assistance.

Call for justice

OCHA said the humanitarian situation is worsened by factors that include endemic violence, access constraints, public health challenges, and such climate shocks as flooding and localized drought.

“While humanitarians continue to work tirelessly to provide the much-needed vital support, the continuation of violent attacks inadvertently hampers their efforts,” Mr. Malo said.

“We call on the authorities to take urgent action to improve security, to protect civilians, humanitarian personnel and commodities, and bring perpetrators to justice.”