Ten IOM trucks carrying humanitarian assistance passed from Turkey to northwestern Syria through the Bab al-Salam crossing, UN spokesman says.
As hopes fade of finding people alive under the debris more than 200 hours after the 7.8-magnitude quake struck, the focus has switched to providing food and shelter to the vast numbers of survivors. The death toll in the region surpassed 40,000 on Tuesday.
The passage marked the first time a UN convoy has used the crossing to deliver aid since its closure in 2020.
Ten International Organization for Migration trucks carrying humanitarian assistance passed through the Bab al-Salam crossing, a spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs told Al Jazeera.
An 11th truck was expected to pass through the crossing shortly after the first convoy.
Another 26 inter-agency trucks went through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, until now the only entry point for UN humanitarian aid to directly reach people in opposition-held northwestern Syria.
“UN cross-border aid is a lifeline,” UN humanitarian affairs chief Martin Griffiths wrote on Twitter.
The crossing had been closed for UN aid since 2020, under pressure at the UN Security Council from Syrian regime ally Russia, calling instead for all relief for the war-torn country to enter via government-controlled areas.
The convoy passed through a day after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad agreed to allow UN aid to enter from Turkey via two more border crossings, marking a shift for Damascus which has long opposed cross-border aid deliveries to the rebel enclave.
Nearly nine million people in Syria were affected by the earthquake, the UN said, as it launched a $400m funding appeal to help the situation there.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the scale of the devastation caused by the magnitude-7.8 earthquake that ravaged southern Turkey and northwestern Syria on February 6 “is one of the worst in recent memory,” and “we all know that lifesaving aid has not been getting in at the speed and scale needed.”
He said the $397m will provide “desperately needed, life-saving relief for nearly 5 million Syrians — including shelter, health care, food and protection” for three months.
Guterres said the UN is in the final stages of preparing an emergency appeal for quake-ravaged southern Turkey.
He urged the international community to provide the emergency funding without delay, saying, “The human suffering from this epic natural disaster should not be made even worse by man-made obstacles — access, funding, supplies.”
Fears have grown for survivors on both sides of the border, with the UN saying more than seven million children have been adversely affected in Syria and Turkey, and noting fears that “many thousands” more had died.
“It is tragically clear that numbers will continue to grow,” said James Elder, spokesman for the UN children’s agency UNICEF, adding that the final toll would be “mind-boggling”.