In Aleppo alone the earthquake caused countless lives and immeasurable damage on buildings and infrastructure. As of February 17, 2023 the status and the reported damage in Aleppo is:

• 65,213 people lost their homes and now reside in 188 shelters.
• 580 buildings are destroyed or need to be demolished.
• 2,287 buildings must be rehabilitated.
• 11,277 buildings were examined by engineering committees.

Emergency response teams have been engaged since the first hours of the earthquake and their relentless work has continued ever since. Government parties, NGOs and volunteer initiatives have been cooperating and coordinating their operations. Priority was given early on to:

• securing shelters for families who lost their homes 
• providing urgent medical and basic supplies such as medicine, water, food, clothing, blankets and cleaning supplies 
• reaching out to people outside the shelters who are hosted by relatives and friends and providing them with the necessary supplies.

In addition to launching a call center (24/7) to issue lost legal papers - personal and property - for affected people by a large team of specialized lawyers.

The work is still continuing through 51 organizations and 46 mobile teams and mobile clinics. Their focus is on:

• organizing existing shelter centers and adding and equipping new shelter centers
• completing the technical examination of affected buildings to allow families to return to safe buildings. 101 engineering committees, consisting of 269 specialized engineers are active on the ground.
• establishing pre-fabricated housing units to host affected families 

In order to accomplish the above work the emergency response teams are in need of:

• diapers for children and elderly people and personal hygiene products to maintain hygiene and prevent infectious diseases in shelter centers
• solar lighting devices for shelters in the absence of electricity and a lack of fuel
• spare parts for tools and machines to remove the rubble
• modern engineering devices for the safety examination of buildings.
• rehabilitation for some schools that were temporarily used as shelters.

Source: Aleppo Governorate Operations Committee Report issued on February 17, 2023

More Updates will be published later on the response in the other affected governorates.