United Nations: More than 5 million people have been displaced in Syria as a result of the devastating earthquake

ARK News… The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has expressed its fear that the devastating earthquake will cause the displacement of more than five million people in Syria, which has been suffering from a bloody conflict for nearly 12 years.

The UNHCR representative in Syria, Sivanka Dhanapala, said in a press conference held at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva: It is possible that approximately 5.3 million people in Syria will be displaced as a result of the earthquake that struck the country along with Turkey at the weekend.

Dhanapala explained that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is speeding up the delivery of aid to the severely affected areas in Syria. UNHCR places the greatest emphasis on the areas of shelter and relief materials, in order to ensure that there are adequate facilities in the collective centers where the displaced have taken refuge, as well as tents, plastic sheets, thermal blankets, winter clothes, and so on.

He added that the UNHCR concluded - according to a preliminary estimate - that 5.37 million people affected by the earthquake will need shelter assistance throughout Syria, "and this is a huge number and affects a population group that is already suffering from massive displacement."

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