The earthquake zone in Syria includes areas controlled by the government and other areas held by opposition forces backed by Turkey.
The government-held parts of Syria have received air shipments including food, medical equipment and fuel from the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Iran and Russia, according to the state-run Syrian news agency SANA.
The Syrian government has tightly controlled what aid it allows into opposition-held areas, and Bab al-Hawa, the only border crossing between Turkey and Syria approved by the United Nations for transporting international aid into northwestern Syria, has been a lifeline for opposition-held areas in the north.
The United Nations said that it had negotiated with the government of Bashar al-Assad, the authoritarian president of Syria, and that it was still negotiating with opposition groups for clearance to send convoys from the Syrian capital, Damascus, and other government-controlled territory into opposition-held areas, where about four million people were almost completely dependent on international aid even before the quake struck.
Over the past week, the U.N. has sent 52 trucks, with materials including blankets and medical equipment, across the border to Syria from Turkey, and 10 more trucks are being sent to Syria on Monday.
Recovery efforts have been stymied by lack of machinery and vehicles and by lack of fuel, as well as aftershocks, which are reportedly continuing in northwestern Syria and forcing people to flee their homes, the U.N. said.
In Turkey, heavy damage to the Port of Iskenderun, a key point for getting supplies to Turkey and Syria, was also hampering efforts to get the necessary supplies to earthquake victims, said Murat Aymelek, an assistant professor in marine engineering at Iskenderun Technical University.
