Nearly 26m affected by Turkey-Syria quake: WHO
GBNEWS24DESK//
Almost 26 million people have been affected by the deadly earthquake that ravaged Turkey and Syria this week, the WHO said yesterday, warning that dozens of hospitals had been damaged.
As the death toll from the quake rose above 25,000, the UN health agency launched a flash appeal Saturday asking for $42.8 million to help it address the immediate, towering health needs.
The World Health Organization, which has already released $16 million from its emergency fund, had previously said up to 23 million people could be impacted.
But yesterday, that rose to nearly 26 million, with 15 million affected in Turkey and nearly 11 million in war-torn Syria.
Among them, more than five million people were considered to be particularly vulnerable, including close to 350,000 elderly people and over 1.4 million children.
WHO estimated that in Turkey, where more than 4,000 buildings have collapsed in the quake, 15 hospitals had suffered partial or heavy damage.
In Syria, where the health care system had already been ravaged by 12 years of civil war, at least 20 health facilities across the hard-hit northwest, including four hospitals, had sustained damage.
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