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WFP boss criticizes authorities in northwest Syria for slowing quake aid

WFP boss criticizes authorities in northwest Syria for slowing quake aid

Rubble of earthquake-destroyed building in Antakya, Turkey. (Credit: Mohammed Yassin/L'Orient Today)

MUNICH — The head of the World Food Program (WFP) Saturday pressured authorities in northwestern Syria to stop blocking access to the area, as it seeks to help hundreds of thousands of people ravaged by earthquakes.

The agency last week said it was running out of stocks in northwest Syria and called for more border crossings to be opened from Turkey.

Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, WFP Director David Beasley said the Syrian and Turkish governments had been cooperating very well, but that its operations were being hampered in northwestern Syria.

"The problems we are running into is the cross-line operations into northwest Syria where the northwestern Syrian authorities are not giving us the access we need," Beasley told Reuters. "That is bottle-necking our operations. That has to get fixed straight away."

More than 45,000 people have been killed in earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria, and the toll is expected to soar with some 264,000 apartments in Turkey destroyed and many still missing in the country's worst modern disaster.

Beasley said the devastation of crucial infrastructure and buildings would mean that survivors would need help for months to come, but the WFP, which is providing hot meals and take-home rations, would run out of money in about 60 days.

"Time is running out and we are running out of money," Beasley said. "Our operation is about $50 million a month for our earthquake response alone, so unless Europe wants a new wave of refugees, we need get the support we need."

In Syria, already shattered by more than a decade of civil war, the bulk of fatalities have been in the northwest.

The area is controlled by insurgents at war with forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, which has complicated efforts to get aid to people.

Thousands of Syrians who had sought refuge in Turkey from their civil war have returned to their homes in the war zone — at least for now.

"I don't know why they are blocking," Beasley said, referring to the authorities in northwestern Syria. "Why play games at a time like this? I will call them out and will not be silent about this."

MUNICH — The head of the World Food Program (WFP) Saturday pressured authorities in northwestern Syria to stop blocking access to the area, as it seeks to help hundreds of thousands of people ravaged by earthquakes.The agency last week said it was running out of stocks in northwest Syria and called for more border crossings to be opened from Turkey.Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the...