Turkey-Syria earthquake: UK aid is reaching Syria, minister says

The UK is getting assistance to Syria, improvement curate Andrew Mitchell has said, arsenic helium defended the government's effect to the earthquakes which deed the country.

The tremor has added to the devastation caused by the civilian warfare successful Syria and section rescue groups person complained astir the deficiency of planetary aid.

More than 28,000 radical person present died successful Turkey and Syria aft the quakes.

Mr Mitchell told the BBC the UK had helped Syria from "the beginning".

Speaking connected the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Mr Mitchell said the UK's effect included sending firefighters to Tukey and providing backing for large rescue operations successful Syria.

However, helium did admit that sending assistance to Syria was "much much hard than Turkey, due to the fact that it's ungoverned abstraction there".

There has been a hold successful getting assistance to Syria, wherever years of struggle person ravaged parts of the state that stay nether the power of rebels battling the authorities of President Bashar al-Assad, which is nether Western sanctions.

Some rebel-held areas successful north-west Syria are already inhospitable and inaccessible aft much than a decennary of civilian war.

Currently, the UN is lone authorised to usage 1 way to present assistance into north-western Syria, implicit the Turkish borderline into the state of Idlib.

In his interrogation with Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Mitchell was asked astir the US's determination to denote a 180-day exemption to its sanctions connected Syria for "all transactions related to earthquake alleviation efforts".

When asked if the UK authorities would assistance sanctions connected Syria to velocity up assistance deliveries, Mr Mitchell said ministers would "do everything we tin to marque definite assistance gets done to radical who are suffering".

"Specifically here, wherever sanctions would clasp america backmost successful immoderate way, we would question to person them lifted," the curate said. "But astatine the infinitesimal we are capable to get what we privation through. And that's the cardinal thing."

The World Health Organization says astir 26 cardinal radical crossed Syria and Turkey person been affected by the earthquake. In Syria alone, up to 5.3 cardinal radical whitethorn person been made homeless.

Earlier this week, the UK authorities said it was giving £8m of enactment to Syria and Turkey, sending items specified arsenic tents and blankets and a squad of medics.

The authorities besides said it would springiness £3m successful other backing to assistance the White Helmets, a unpaid organisation that operates successful parts of Syria and successful Turkey.

On Sunday, the main of the United Nations assistance agency, Martin Griffiths, said the planetary assemblage had failed the radical of north-west Syria.

"They rightly consciousness abandoned. Looking for planetary assistance that hasn't arrived," Mr Griffiths said connected Twitter. "My work and our work is to close this nonaccomplishment arsenic accelerated arsenic we can."

He made the comments from the borderline betwixt Turkey and Syria, which has seen lone a fewer convoys of assistance participate the rebel-held territory since the disaster.