has left two volunteer groups like the white cabinet helmets to search for survivors here rescuing two girls in a village. the syrian government is now claiming that it will allow aid but not if it goes to people it regards as terrorists. that is not only problem. terrorists. that is not only problem- terrorists. that is not only -roblem. ., ., problem. the whole un aid effort into problem. the whole un aid effort into idlib problem. the whole un aid effort into idlib provinces . effort into idlib provinces reliant effort into idlib provinces reliant on one border crossing, it is reliant on one border crossing, it is right reliant on one border crossing, it is right in reliant on one border crossing, it is right in the middle of the it is right in the middle of the zone it is right in the middle of the zone that has been badly damaged by the earthquake, and that crossing itself is badly damaged, that route is not viable damaged, that route is not viable for large scal
but that s not the only problem. the whole un aid effort into idlib province is reliant on one border crossing bab al hawa crossing that is right in the middle of the zone that s been badly damaged by the earthquake, and that crossing itself is badly damaged, that route is not viable for large scale aid efforts. and, frankly, syria and russia kind of like it that way. the whole strategy towards the north western part of the country has been to grind it into oblivion through bombing, starvation and aid blockages. so, in that sense, the earthquake and the aid cut off kind of serves their larger political purposes. so, where does that leave tens of thousands of civilians, most of them refugees living already desperate lives? many of those people are in tents and temporary buildings. that, for once, may have helped to save lives. but as long as idlib remains a rebel stronghold, getting help from the outside world will remain extremely difficult.
and it was like, you need to be in hip hop . so that s what we got confronted with a lot at the beginning, so we had to navigate very differently. i think the message isjust follow your gut. follow your gut. don t listen to the noise of everything. quote, georgia. clears throat. if you take the short road, it will draw blood, but if you take the long road, it will draw sweat. you can see the results of that blood and sweat, and maybe a few tears, too, when the brit awards kick off at 8:30pm tonight. mark savage, bbc news. just before we go i want to take you back to turkey and syria. we will focus a bit on the aid efforts. we are seeing some rescue effort still, but the scale of the humanitarian aid is extraordinary. we have heard about the need for heaters and hot meals, accommodation, and then you get to the health care needs, sanitation, sanitary products, medicines, the list is intimidating.
what actually happens? what do you do to swing into action or what did you do? sorry. well, it s always a really devastating thing. usually, depending on the country, there might well be un people on the ground already, which is the case here, because we all know that this part of turkey, particularly with getting aid into syria, there have been aid efforts here for a very long time. and i was part of the team that negotiated those cross border operations from turkey into syria. but the thing that we always remember is that you ll have a lot of local staff on the ground, and of course, they re affected too, and it s terrible for them. you have a meeting immediately. look at the resources that you have, who is as close as possible to turkey and syria that can get over there quickly. there s something called surge, which is that you send out a message to all the staff and
stuff they have. there are mattresses, boxes of water, diapers for babies, heating equipment. hundreds of volunteers here. hundreds of people who feel like they have to get everything as quickly as they k once the trucks go out, they could make a difference as early as tonight. thank you for being there, again. and to all of those people behind you clearly working around the clock. the scale is unbelievable. we have up to where it ranks as far as deadliest earthquakes. number seven. but still, the death toll is still climbing. when you think about it, we saw the other day it was 13,000, 15,000, and i said imagine if that was in the united states or europe or we remember what happened in haiti. enistanbul, turkey, syria. we still don t know. also just to look at the aid