Recovery from Turkey-Syria quake 'could take over a generation': aid group

Recovery from the Turkey-Syria earthquake could take "over a generation", a humanitarian organisation has warned a week after the disaster struck.

Last Monday's 7.8-magnitude earthquake, which has killed over 33,000 people in southern Turkey and northern Syria, has caused devastation not seen in over a decade, according to World Vision, who have been providing aid in the region following the quake.

"The earthquake is serving up a cocktail of catastrophe from wide scale death, destruction and injuries… The impact is so enormous," Johan Mooij, World Vision Syria Response Director was quoted as saying in a statement received by The New Arab.

"It could take a generation for survivors to recover, maybe longer in Northern Syria where millions were already living on humanitarian aid with few prospects of their lives improving," they added.

Up to seven people were sharing tents due to the scale of displacement from Syria’s conflict prior to the quake, and following the earthquake this figure has reached 17 people per tent, the aid organisation said.

The devastation in northern Syria has extended to health care facilities where people "are unable to even keep the power on due to lack of fuel", as "families who have been displaced multiple times already due to the Syrian conflict, have been displaced again".

Rescuers are continuing to miraculously pull survivors from the rubble a week after the quake, but the death toll from the disaster is showing little sign of slowing.

Catastrophe risk firm Risklayer has modelled an estimated median fatality rate of 52,355 as of Thursday using modelling from the Integrated Natural Catastrophe Database.

The modelling system, which combines massive global databases with drone and satellite footage, forecasts that the death toll could rise over 100,000, depending on emergency responses, weather events, and further building collapses.   

It is estimated that as many as 23 million people across Turkey and Syria have been affected by the tragedy.

Material losses caused by the quake are at an estimated $30 billion, The New Arab’s Arabic language service Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.