GENEVA, Switzerland – The World Health Organization (WHO) warned Wednesday of a secondary well being disaster threatening to strike Turkey and Syria within the aftermath of the devastating earthquake, which might be worse than the quake itself.
Monday’s 7.8-magnitude tremor has killed greater than 11,700 individuals in Turkey and Syria, flattening 1000’s of buildings and trapping an unknown variety of individuals.
The WHO stated there was a race in opposition to time to save lots of lives — after which guarantee survivors keep alive within the dire circumstances.
Robert Holden, the WHO’s earthquake response incident supervisor, stated the rapid focus was on saving lives however insisted it was “imperative to make sure that those who survived the initial disaster… continue to survive”.
“We’ve got a lot of people who have survived now out in the open, in worsening and horrific conditions,” he defined, with disrupted entry to water, gasoline, electrical energy and communications.
“We are in real danger of seeing a secondary disaster which may cause harm to more people than the initial disaster if we don’t move with the same pace and intensity as we are doing on the search and rescue,” he advised a press convention in Geneva.
“This is no easy task… The scale of the operation is massive.”
Medical help flights
A winter storm has compounded the distress by rendering many roads — a few of them broken by the quake — nearly impassable.
Adelheid Marschang, the WHO’s senior emergency officer, defined the dangers that survivors are had been now prone to face.
She stated there was a “clear concern” that “underlying health risks will likely be exacerbated” by the aftermath.
In Syria, ravaged by years of civil warfare, these would come with diarrhea, cholera, respiratory sicknesses, leishmaniasis, incapacity and secondary wound infections.
The quake can even possible worsen persistent situations and non-communicable illnesses as a result of disruption to healthcare, with such capacities already “gravely affected” by the civil warfare.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus anticipated that the dying toll would maintain climbing, saying: “With the weather conditions and ongoing aftershocks, we’re in a race against time to save lives.”
“People need shelter, food, clean water and medical care, for injuries resulting from the earthquake, but also for other health needs.”
He stated one flight of medical help was heading for Istanbul from the WHO’s logistics hub in Dubai, whereas one other sure for Damascus is getting ready to depart, with one other flight to the Syrian capital deliberate.
Tedros stated 77 nationwide and 13 worldwide emergency medical groups had been deploying to the affected areas.
He warned that the scenario in Syria was compounded by outbreaks of measles and cholera. Since late August, Syria has reported about 85,000 cholera instances, he stated.
WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan added that there would must be long-lasting psychological well being help to deal with the continuing trauma.
“It’s a huge issue,” he stated.
“The psychological stress that communities have gone through in the last 60 hours will reverberate for 60 years.” — Agence France-Presse
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
