About 70 countries and 14 international organizations have provided aid to Turkey after the quake, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Tuesday, including the United States, United Kingdom, UAE, Israel and Russia.
The international aid situation in Syria is less clear.
Syria is ruled by a large number of disparate groups. Some of the areas in Syria most affected by the quake are controlled by the government of President Bashar al-Assad, others by Turkish-backed and US-backed opposition forces, Kurdish rebels and Sunni Islamist fighters.
Idlib, one of the last opposition strongholds in Syria, is controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an armed Sunni Islamist group.
The Assad government, internationally sidelined and heavily sanctioned for its brutal suppression of an insurgency that began in 2011, considers Iran and Russia its closest allies – both global pariahs.
The regime insists that all aid to the country, including aid for areas beyond its control, go to the capital, Damascus.
That has not been well received by activists and observers who fear the regime could hinder timely aid to thousands of earthquake victims in rebel-held areas, most of whom are women and children, the UN said.
So far, the UAE, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Egypt, Algeria and India have sent relief supplies directly to regime-controlled airports. Others, such as Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, China, Canada and the Vatican, have pledged aid, though it is unclear whether that aid will be sent directly to the regime.
Damascus said on Wednesday it has set up more than 100 shelters equipped with relief supplies for those hit by the quake in government-controlled areas, including in the cities of Aleppo, Hama, Homs, Tartus and Latakia, a coastal city that has the highest number of earthquake deaths recorded in Syria to date, and more than 100 collapsed buildings.
