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“My heart goes out to the people of\u00a0T\u00fcrkiye and Syria in this hour of tragedy<\/strong>” said the UN Secretary-General\u00a0Ant\u00f3nio Guterres in a statement. “The United Nations is fully committed to supporting the response. Our teams are on the ground assessing the needs and providing assistance.”<\/p>\n More than 1.500 have been reported to have died and many more are injured with the toll continuing to rise as the rescue work continues.<\/p>\n Mr. Guterres said that the UN was counting on the international community<\/strong> to help the many thousands caught up in the disaster, “many of whom were already in dire need of humanitarian aid in areas where access is a challenge<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n Emergency medical teams from the World Health Organization, WHO, have been given the green light to provide essential care for the injured and most vulnerable, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a tweet<\/a>.<\/p>\n Specialist UN surge teams from the Office of UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) also tweeted that they were \u201cready to deploy\u201d<\/strong>, amid multiple horrifying social media posts showing huge buildings collapsing in heavily built-up areas.<\/p>\n In a statement issued via Twitter<\/a>, the UN in\u00a0T\u00fcrkiye expressed deep sadness at the loss of life and the destruction of property. The team expressed its condolences to the families of victims “as well as to the people and Government”, wishing the injured a speedy recovery.<\/p>\n “United Nations\u00a0T\u00fcrkiye expresses its solidarity with\u00a0T\u00fcrkiye and is ready to assist.”<\/p>\n UN humanitarian coordinating office OCHA underscored<\/a> that the initial 7.8 magnitude quake hit at the height of winter. The epicentre was in southern T\u00fcrkiye, where nearby Gaziantep \u2013 an important UN aid hub for northern Syria – was among the cities affected.<\/p>\nSyria aid lifeline hit<\/strong><\/h2>\n