UN continues quake-related aid to Syria

The UN and partners are continuing to help people affected by the recent earthquakes in Syria, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Across the country, more than one million people have received tents, shelter kits and other emergency items. Nearly 1.1 million people have received food rations. Nearly two million hot meals have been provided, OCHA added on Friday. More than three-quarters of damaged schools have re-opened in the governorates of Aleppo, Lattakia, Tartous, Hama, Homs and Idlib, it said as quoted by Xinhua news agency report. The UN has completed 69 cross-border missions to northwest Syria since the first interagency visit to Idlib on February 14. As of Thursday, nearly 1,350 trucks carrying aid from seven UN agencies had crossed into the northwest since the earthquakes, via the three available border crossings, it added. The UN flash appeal for earthquake response in Syria is now 96 per cent funded. However, the UN humanitarian response plan for Syria for 2023, which calls for $4.8 billion, is only seven per cent funded, said OCHA.