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Edited News | IOM , UNICEF , WFP , WHO
Bi-Weekly Press Briefing: Update Turkiye/Syria earthquakes - WFP/UNICEF/IOM/WHO
UN humanitarian agencies on Tuesday welcomed the news that two more border crossings are to open into northwest Syria from Türkiye, to transport relief supplies for survivors of the earthquake disaster in both countries that have likely claimed tens of thousands of lives.
“We very, very much welcome this announcement that there are additional crossings now to get into northwest Syria from Türkiye,” said Kenn Crossley, WFP Country Director in Syria, after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad agreed to temporarily open the crossing points of Bab Al-Salam and Al Ra’ee for an initial period of three months.
Speaking from Damascus to journalists in Geneva via Zoom, Mr. Crossley insisted that humanitarian access needed reach people “wherever they are from, wherever we can get to them”.
Drawing on the existing partnerships, supply chains and food stocks, WFP began distributing hot-meals and ready to eat food in shelters with local partners within hours from the earthquake.
“Roughly 90,000 people within northwest Syria have been receiving specific food assistance related directly to the impact of the earthquake”, the WFP official said. “They've been also receiving regular assistance through our previous pipeline, another approximately 90,000 people.”
WFP’s logistics cluster is working with all humanitarian partners to boost aid access through the new entry points into northwest Syria. A WFP convoy of 18 trucks of food assistance, as well as other aid from multiple UN agencies is ready to bring assistance into northwest Syria.
"So, within northwest Syria, where a lot of the attention has been focused, we're confident that we've been able to work with partners to provide enough food for between 150,000 and 180,000 people as of today", said Mr. Crossley.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) also announced earlier on Tuesday that an 11-truck convoy left the agency’s Gaziantep warehouse bound for about Bab Al-Salam, one of the reopened border crossings.
“In addition, four other trucks have also left from this sprawling IOM warehouse we operate in Gaziantep bound for Bab al-Hawa”, said Paul Dillon, IOM’s spokesperson, in reference to the existing cross-border entry point into largely opposition-held northwest Syria. “We're still waiting on confirmation that these two convoys have crossed.”
Eight days since the devastating earthquakes, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) highlighted that youngsters are still extremely vulnerable in impacted areas: some 4.6 million lived in Türkiye before the disaster and another 2.5 million were known to be in Syria. The number of children killed and injured during the quakes and their aftermath has not yet been confirmed, but is likely to be in the many thousands, said UNICEF spokesperson James Elder.
“This is trauma on top of trauma”, the UNICEF spokesperson said. “I call it what you will compound trauma for these children is unyielding trauma. To give a quick sense of that psychological first aid, we've trained 70 additional trainers in Syria. We've released hundreds of recreational kits which bring basics of stimulation and learning, a little bit of normalcy”.
In both Türkiye and Syria, child protection is a high priority for UNICEF, including the identification and reunification of separated and unaccompanied children. Some of the children have been displaced five or six times.
Reiterating the importance of establishing cross-line movements into northwest Syria, Christian Lindmeier, spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the “the Government has just recently on 12 February given the recent blanket approval for cross-line movements for UN convoys. That's important to say.”. He added: “Again, this is not only from one side, this also needs the receiving side for convoys to be ready and to …receive convoys. This is why this is a constant back-and-forth negotiations. Every party has to agree to receive convoys to let them go unhindered and that is the biggest challenge.”
- Medium shot, UN Geneva flag alley.
- Wide shot, press room with moderator and screens with speakers.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – Kenn Crossley, WFP Country Director in Syria: “We very, very much welcome this announcement that there are additional crossings now to get into northwest Syria from Turkiye. We think it's extremely important that we have all possible humanitarian access to people wherever they are from wherever we can get to them.”
- Medium shot, journalists looking at screen to speaker
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – Kenn Crossley, WFP Country Director in Syria: “Roughly 90,000 people within northwest Syria have been receiving specific food assistance related directly to the impact of the earthquake. They've been also receiving regular assistance through our previous pipeline, another approximately 90,000 people”.
- Medium shot, background of podium + speaker on screen
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Kenn Crossley, WFP Country Director in Syria: “So within northwest Syria, where a lot of the attention has been focused we're confident that we've been able to work with partners to provide enough food for between 150 and 180,000 people as of today”.
- Medium shot, journalists in press briefing room in front of screen with speakers
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - James Elder, spokesperson for UNICEF: “This is trauma on top of trauma. I call it what you will compound trauma for these children is unyielding trauma. To give a quick sense of that psychological first aid, we've trained 70 additional trainers in Syria. We've released hundreds of recreational kits which bring basics of stimulation and learning, a little bit of normalcy”.
- Wide shot, journalist taking a photo with journalists sitting behind
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Paul Dillon, spokesperson for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM): ”In addition, four other trucks have also left from this sprawling IOM warehouse we operate in Gaziantep bound for Bab al-Hawa. We're still waiting on confirmation that these two convoys have crossed”.
- Medium shot, journalist looking at speaker on screen
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Christian Lindmeier, spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO): “The government has just recently on the 12th of February given the recent blanket approval for cross line movements for U.N. convoys. That's important to say. But again, this is not only from one side. This also needs the receiving side for convoys to be ready and to exceed receive convoys. This is why this is a constant back and forth negotiations. Every party has to agree to receive convoys to let them go unhindered and that is the biggest challenge”.
- Close up, hands typing
- Wide shot, cameraman filming with journalists sitting in the background
- Wide shot, journalists taking notes
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As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
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