Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoGENEVA / EARTHQUAKE UPDATE
Download
There is no media available to download.
Share
STORY: GENEVA / EARTHQUAKE UPDATE
TRT: 2:34
SOURCE: UNTC CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 14 FEBRUARY 2023, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1.Med shot, UN Geneva flag alley.
2.Wide shot, press room with moderator and screens with speakers.
3.SOUNDBITE (English) Kenn Crossley, WFP Country Director in Syria:
“We very, very much welcome this announcement that there are additional crossings now to get into northwest Syria from Turkiye. We think it's extremely important that we have all possible humanitarian access to people wherever they are from wherever we can get to them.”
4.Med shot, journalists looking at screen to speaker
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Kenn Crossley, WFP Country Director in Syria:
“Roughly 90,000 people within northwest Syria have been receiving specific food assistance related directly to the impact of the earthquake. They've been also receiving regular assistance through our previous pipeline, another approximately 90,000 people”.
6.Med shot, background of podium + speaker on screen
7.SOUNDBITE (English) Kenn Crossley, WFP Country Director in Syria:
“So within northwest Syria, where a lot of the attention has been focused we're confident that we've been able to work with partners to provide enough food for between 150 and 180,000 people as of today”.
8.Med shot, journalists in press briefing room in front of screen with speakers
9. SOUNDBITE (English) James Elder, spokesperson for UNICEF:
“This is trauma on top of trauma. I call it what you will compound trauma for these children is unyielding trauma. To give a quick sense of that psychological first aid, we've trained 70 additional trainers in Syria. We've released hundreds of recreational kits which bring basics of stimulation and learning, a little bit of normalcy”.
10. Wide shot, journalist taking a photo with journalists sitting behind
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Paul Dillon, spokesperson for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM):
” In addition, four other trucks have also left from this sprawling IOM warehouse we operate in Gaziantep bound for Bab al-Hawa. We're still waiting on confirmation that these two convoys have crossed”.
12. Med shot, journalist looking at speaker on screen
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Christian Lindmeier, spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO):
“The government has just recently on the 12th of February given the recent blanket approval for cross line movements for U.N. convoys. That's important to say. But again, this is not only from one side. This also needs the receiving side for convoys to be ready and to exceed receive convoys. This is why this is a constant back and forth negotiations. Every party has to agree to receive convoys to let them go unhindered and that is the biggest challenge”.
14. Close up, hands typing
15. Wide shot, cameraman filming with journalists sitting in the background
16. Wide shot, journalists taking notes
United Nations humanitarian agencies welcomed the announcement by the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, to open two more border crossings to allow humanitarian aid to help victims of the earthquake in Türkiye and northwest Syria that has left more than 35,000 dead.
“We very, very much welcome this announcement that there are additional crossings now to get into northwest Syria from Türkiye”, said Kenn Crossley, WFP Country Director in Syria when speaking to media at the United Nations in Geneva. “We think it's extremely important that we have all possible humanitarian access to people wherever they are from wherever we can get to them.”
The Syrian president Bashar al-Assad agreed to temporarily open the crossing points of Bab Al-Salam and Al Ra’ee from Türkiye to the rebel-held northwestern part of the country for an initial period of three months to facilitate the supply of humanitarian aid to the survivors of the recent earthquake.
Drawing on the existing partnerships, supply chains, and food stocks, WFP was already distributing with local partners on the ground hot-meals and ready to eat food among shelters within hours from the earthquake.
“Roughly 90,000 people within northwest Syria have been receiving specific food assistance related directly to the impact of the earthquake”, said WFP’s Syria Country director. “They've been also receiving regular assistance through our previous pipeline, another approximately 90,000 people.”
WFP’s logistics cluster is currently working with all humanitarian partners to organize increased usage of the new entry points into northwest Syria.
A convoy of 18 trucks of food assistance, as well as and other aid from multiple UN agencies, is ready since days to bring assistance into North-west Syria.
“So, within northwest Syria, where a lot of the attention has been focused, we're confident that we've been able to work with partners to provide enough food for between 150,000 and 180,000 people as of today”, said Mr. Crossley.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) also announced earlier today that an eleven-truck convoy left their Gaziantep warehouse bound for about al-Salam, the newly opened border crossing.
“In addition, four other trucks have also left from this sprawling IOM warehouse we operate in Gaziantep bound for Bab al-Hawa”, said Paul Dillon, IOM’s spokesperson. “We're still waiting on confirmation that these two convoys have crossed.”
One week on from the devastating earthquakes, 4.6 million children living in affected areas in Türkiye, and another 2.5 million in Syria, are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. The number of children killed and injured during the quakes and their aftermath has not yet been confirmed but is likely to be in the many thousands, according to UNICEF.
“This is trauma on top of trauma”, said James Elder, spokesperson for UNICEF. “I call it what you will compound trauma for these children is unyielding trauma. To give a quick sense of that psychological first aid, we've trained 70 additional trainers in Syria. We've released hundreds of recreational kits which bring basics of stimulation and learning, a little bit of normalcy.”
In both Türkiye and Syria, child protection is a high priority for UNICEF, including the identification and reunification of separated and unaccompanied children. Some of the children have been 5-6 times displaced.
Calling on the importance of cross line movements into northwest Syria, Christian Lindmeier, spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the “the government has just recently on the 12th of February given the recent blanket approval for cross line movements for U.N. convoys. That's important to say”. He emphasized that “this is not only from one side, this also needs the receiving side for convoys to be ready and to exceed receive convoys. This is why this is a constant back and forth negotiations. Every party has to agree to receive convoys to let them go unhindered and that is the biggest challenge.”
