Turkey-Syria earthquake: ShelterBox says affected areas face long recovery

ShelterBox said getting relief into Syria was complex

Help in earthquake-hit Turkey and Syria could be needed for years, Cornwall disaster relief charity ShelterBox has said.

Sanj Srikanthan, the charity's chief executive, said it was the "most severe earthquake the Middle East has seen for a century".

The quakes in the two countries have killed almost 40,000 people.

ShelterBox has relief teams in the Turkish city of Gaziantep.

It is providing supplies including tents and thermal blankets to affected areas in the two countries as well as distributing warm children's clothing in northern Syria.

'More severe'

Mr Srikanthan told BBC Radio Cornwall the needs in Syria were "more severe" than in Turkey due to the ongoing civil war.

"What we are seeing in Syria is far greater need because the lack of the government there means no one is coming to help if we don't," he said.

"The needs are going to be more severe and also they are going to last longer.

"A tent in Syria is going to be needed for months, if not years - in Turkey, we hope that might be much shorter in terms of need."

He said ShelterBox had a presence in Syria before the earthquake but getting supplies in was still the charity's biggest challenge.

"ShelterBox is practiced in getting things into affected areas, but the airports are damaged as well as the roads into Syria," he said.

"There's is only one authorised crossing from Turkey into Syria and that's slowing down aid.

"The number of people needing assistance in the coming weeks is huge, far greater than the number who have died."

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