The World Health Organization will support Ankara in its response to massive earthquakes that killed more than 50,000, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said as the death toll from the latest aftershock rose to two.
The massive earthquakes that struck Turkey's southeast and neighbouring Syria in the last three weeks have injured more than 108,000 in Turkey, leaving millions sheltering in tents or seeking to move to other cities.
The latest substantial aftershock, with a magnitude of 5.6, hit yesterday, killing two and injuring 140 people, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said, adding that 32 people had been rescued from the rubble.
Turkey is "doing its best" but still needs international support to help the victims of the earthquake, Mr Tedros said, describing the destruction as "really massive" for modern history.
In a news conference alongside Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca in Antakya, one of the most affected cities, Mr Tedros said the two had discussed the health situation in camps.
"These are like respiratory infections, GI infections, especially mental health problems - because many people are really traumatised - and people who need rehabilitation services, especially orthopaedic service," he said.
"From WHO side, we will support in any way possible based on the issues observed or documented and based on the priorities ofthe ministry," Mr Tedros added.
More than 160,000 buildings containing 520,000 apartments collapsed or were severely damaged in Turkey by the disaster, the worst in the country's modern history.
President Tayyip Erdogan has pledged to rebuild homes within a year but it will still be many months before thousands can leave tents or shipping containers and daily queues for food and move into permanent housing, key to gaining the sense of normalcy and safety they lost.
The earthquakes have struck months ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections, scheduled to be held by June, which present the biggest political challenge to President Erdogan in his two-decade rule.
Meanwhile, revised figures from AFP has found that more than 50,000 people were killed in the earthquakes.
A total of 5,951 people were killed across Syria, while Turkey recorded 44,374 deaths after the 6 February earthquake.
The new tally brings to 50,325 the total number of deaths caused by the disaster across both countries.
The Syrian government said 1,414 people had been killed in areas under its control, while Turkish-backed officials in Syria have put the death toll at 4,537 throughout rebel-held areas of the country.
The toll in areas outside government control includes deaths in territory held by rival rebel groups.
Local authorities relied on data collected from hospitals, medical centres and civil defence in Idlib and northern Aleppo province, health official Maram al-Sheikh told AFP.
They also included civilian sources, he said, many of whom buried their dead without taking them to hospital.
The toll was finalised with help from the Assistance Coordination Unit (ACU) organisation, a local United Nations partner.
The UN said it relied on the ACU's data, including death tolls, which match those of the Turkish-backed authorities.
The death toll in rebel areas was "almost final, since most victims have been pulled from under the rubble", he said.
AFP had previously reported 3,688 deaths across Syria.
The quake came nearly 12 years into Syria's civil war, which devastated swathes of the country, killed nearly half a million people and displaced millions more.
