THE second shipment of humanitarian aid provided by the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) for the earthquake-stricken areas in Syria arrived at the capital Damascus on Monday local time.

The supplies, including cotton tents, relief packages for families, thermal jackets and medicine, will meet the needs of over 10,000 victims, according to the RCSC.

The RCSC has so far dispatched two batches of relief materials to Syria, which will help more than 15,000 victims.

John Lee, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), said yesterday that the HKSAR Government will send about HK$30 million (US$3.82 million) worth of supplies to quake-hit areas in Türkiye.

More than 100 cubic tons of supplies donated by Hong Kong citizens were delivered to Türkiye on Monday evening, he said.

Meanwhile, rescuers yesterday were working to reach people under the rubble in three provinces hit hard by the devastating quakes that hit Türkiye and Syria last week.

The death toll from the magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 quakes that struck nine hours apart Feb. 6 in southeastern Türkiye and northern Syria passed 35,000, and was certain to increase as search teams find more bodies. More than 41,500 buildings were destroyed or damaged.

In Adiyaman province, rescuers reached 18-year-old Muhammed Cafer Cetin, and medics gave him an IV with fluids before attempting a dangerous extraction from a building that crumbled further as rescuers were working. Medics surrounded him to place a neck brace and he was on a stretcher with an oxygen mask, making it out to daylight on the 199th hour.

Two others were rescued from one building that’s been destroyed in central Kahramanmaras, near the epicenter, some 198 hours after the quakes.

In Syria, President Bashar Assad agreed to open two new crossing points from Türkiye to the country’s rebel-held northwest to deliver desperately needed aid and equipment to millions of earthquake victims, the United Nations announced Monday.

The crossings at Bab Al-Salam and Al Raée will be opened for an initial period of three months. Until now, the U.N. has only been allowed to deliver aid to the Idlib area through a single crossing at Bab Al-Hawa.

The United Nations has been under intense pressure to get more aid and heavy equipment into Syria’s rebel-held northwest. (SD-Xinhua)