Quake-hit Syrians cry for aid

People of the north-west Syria are spending their days on empty stomachs waiting for emergency aid.

Volunteers and organisations who are carrying out rescue operations in Syria's opposition-held region expressed their disappointment and despair over the delay in international response, reports the BBC

Since the twin earthquakes rocked the area, only one UN aid convoy reached aid into the area on Thursday. However, the convoy was scheduled prior to the earthquake, and did not include specialist rescue equipment. 

Hospitals exhausted by the years-long war are struggling to treat survivors. 

The hospitals do not have medical supplies to cover even 20% of the people of the earthquake-stricken region, said Dr Mohamed Hassoun, who was working in Syria in the days after the quake. 

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme on Friday said its stocks in north-west Syria are depleting fast where some 90% of the population depends on humanitarian assistance.

Meanwhile, President Bashar al-Assad met rescue workers at the site of a collapsed building in government-held Aleppo, reports BBC.

This is the first time, he visited to an area affected by the earthquake.

The Syrian civil defence, know as the White Helmets, operates in rebel-held areas. It says the situation in north-west Syria is "absolutely catastrophic".

Much of Aleppo was destroyed in a civil war, which broke out in 2011, when a peaceful uprising against Assad turned into violence. A brutal crackdown by security forces triggered the conflict that destroyed cities, left thousands of people dead and displaced millions.