FOUR MILLION PEOPLE RELY HEAVILY ON THE FOOD AND MEDICINE THAT HAS BEEN BROUGHT ACROSS THE BORDER [FILE: KHALIL ASHAWI/REUTERS]
Public health experts warn that earthquakes could worsen an ongoing cholera outbreak, particularly in rebel-held areas of Syria.
The warnings come as rescue operations ended in Syria and hope faded in searches in Turkey, six days after a series of quakes hit the region.
- Before the earthquake, Syria was already facing increasing food insecurity, collapsing healthcare, lack of safe water, and poor sanitation, according to UNICEF.
- According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), almost half of the 77,500 cholera cases were in the northwest region of Syria.
- The U.N. has estimated that 5.3 million people have been left homeless in Syria.
- In September 2022, the Syrian government declared a cholera outbreak caused by ingesting food or water contaminated by the Vibrio cholerae bacteria.
- Following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, a cholera outbreak that led to more than 9,000 deaths was traced to U.N. peacekeepers, not residents.
- The death toll from Monday's earthquake and associated aftershocks has surpassed 33,000.
- Survivors continue to be found and pulled from the rubble, but rescues are becoming fewer and farther between.
