WHO says earthquake could affect up to 23 million

Feb. 7: Some 23 million people could be affected by the massive earthquake that has killed more than 5,000 so far, the World Health Organization has said.

“Event overview maps show that potentially 23 million people are exposed, including around five million vulnerable populations,” the WHO’s senior emergencies officer Adelheid Marschang said.

“Civilian infrastructure and potentially health infrastructure have been damaged across the affected region, mainly in Turkey and northwest Syria,” Marschang added.

The WHO “considers that the main unmet needs may be in Syria in the immediate and mid-term,” Marschang told the WHO’s executive committee in Geneva. (Aljazeera)