GENEVA — The worldwide neighborhood and the Syrian authorities didn’t act rapidly final month to assist individuals in want within the rebel-held northwest after a lethal earthquake hit Turkey and Syria, a U.N. fee mentioned Monday.

The Feb. 6 magnitude 7.8 earthquake and powerful aftershocks that ravaged southern Turkey and northwestern Syria killed greater than 50,000 individuals, together with over 6,000 in Syria.

The Unbiased Worldwide Fee of Inquiry on Syria mentioned there ought to be an investigation into why it took per week to open border crossings for assist to stream. It added that war-torn Syria “now wants a complete cease-fire that’s totally revered” for civilians, together with assist staff, to be secure.

It took per week for the U.N. and Syria’s President Bashar Assad’s authorities to agree on opening two extra border crossings into the rebel-held area bordering Turkey as many individuals had been nonetheless below the rubble.

“Because the earthquake, we’ve got seen many acts to assist victims by the Syrians themselves,” fee member Paulo Pinheiro mentioned throughout a information convention in Geneva. He added that “we additionally witnessed an entire failure by the federal government and the worldwide neighborhood together with United Nations to quickly direct pressing lifesaving assist for northwest Syria.”

“Many days had been misplaced with none assist to survivors of the earthquake,” Pinheiro mentioned. “Actors didn’t quickly direct pressing lifesaving assist to northwest Syria which grew to become the epicenter of neglect.”

Every week after the earthquake, the U.N. introduced that Syrian President Bashir Assad agreed to open for 3 months two new crossing factors from Turkey to the nation’s rebel-held northwest to ship desperately wanted assist and gear to assist earthquake victims. Earlier than that, the U.N. had solely been allowed to ship assist to the northwest Idlib space by a single crossing at Bab Al-Hawa, at Syrian ally Russia’s insistence.

“They didn’t ship worldwide emergency help together with rescue groups and gear within the very important first week after the earthquake,” Pinheiro mentioned, including that “Syrians, for good causes, felt deserted and uncared for by those that (are) supposed to guard them of their most determined time.”

“Many voices are rightly calling … for an investigation and accountability to know how this failure, this catastrophe occurred past the earthquake,” Pinheiro mentioned.