Paris, 29 January 2024,
One year after the devastating earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on 6 February 2023, public interest and funding in the North-West Syria region has waned considerably, and there is every reason to fear that the humanitarian situation in 2024 will be unprecedented. The health and solidarity NGO Mehad, which has been working in Syria since 2011, denounces this indifference and warns of the urgency of the humanitarian situation and the glaring lack of international funding.
The 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and north-west Syria, leaving a devastating toll: at least 56,000 dead, 105,000 injured, 23 million people affected, and more than 173,000 buildings destroyed. It was one of the worst natural disasters of the 21st century. In Syria, 9 million people have been affected, including 7.2 million in the north-west zone.
Following an immediate wave of international solidarity, the humanitarian situation in Syria has since undeniably taken a back seat, and the situation looks alarming for 2024.
For example, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) ended its support plan for Syria on 1 January due to a lack of funding. According to the WFP, more than 12 million Syrians – over half the population – are suffering from hunger, a figure that has doubled in 4 years.
Already, in 2023, only 33% of humanitarian needs had been covered in Syria (source: OCHA, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), where the international organisation estimates that 7 out of 10 inhabitants are in need of urgent humanitarian aid, i.e. more than 15.3 million people.
“The situation is particularly alarming in north-west Syria, where the effects of the earthquake have been added to those of almost 13 years of war, and where the bombardments continue unabated”, warns Dr Mego Terzian, Director General of the NGO Mehad and former President of MSF (2013-2022). This area remains one of the most volatile in the country in terms of security and humanitarian situation. “In the last quarter of 2023 alone, escalating tensions in the area left at least 99 civilians dead and 400 injured.”
The country still has the highest number of internally displaced people in the world (6.8 million), and this year has the highest number of people in need of humanitarian assistance since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis (source: OCHA).
As an NGO that has been working in the region since it was founded in 2011, Mehad stresses that the humanitarian situation in Syria requires not just an urgent response, but also a long-term intervention, with more than 70% of the health system down, following almost 13 years of bombing.
Despite the efforts of Mehad, which runs 42 health centres in Syria, providing more than 1 million treatments a year, several of these centres are threatened with imminent closure for lack of funding. For millions of patients, these centres are the only way to access even the most basic care.
“I appeal to the international community, and more specifically to the main donors: in 2024, don’t look away from Syria”, urges Mego Terzian. “Millions of innocent civilians, men, women and children, have been suffering the worst that human beings have known for 13 years. Forgetting them is the worst sentence of all.
Press contact:
Coralie DOUVILLE
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