Up to 5.3 million Syrians may have lost homes in earthquake, UN
World
Significant number comes to those already experiencing tremendous dislocation, UNHCR representative
BEIRUT (Web Desk) - Up to 5.3 million people in Syria may have lost their homes as a result of the deadly earthquake that shook the area earlier this week, a United Nations (UN) official.
At a news conference Sivanka Dhanapala, a representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said that the earthquake may have made up to 5.3 million people in Syria homeless.
He said that the UN predicted that 5.37 million earthquake victims will require housing assistance nationwide, adding, "That is a significant number and comes to a people already experiencing tremendous dislocation."
Quake survivors have gone to shelters established for those driven from other regions of Syria by nearly 12 years of conflict. Many people have lost their houses or are too afraid to enter damaged structures. The earthquake was one of the greatest calamities to strike the area in about a century.
Data from the health ministry and a rescue organization show that the earthquake claimed more than 3,300 lives in Syria. Beginning in 2011 with the ruthless suppression of peaceful protesters the crisis in Syria grew to involve international powers and Islamists from across the world.
Around half of the country's pre-war population has been driven from their homes as a result of the fighting and many have fled to Turkey.
