the death toll from the earthquakes that rocked Syria and turkey more than a week ago now stands at more than 40 thousand in turkey volunteers and relief Aid have been flowing in since almost immediately after the disaster struck but in Syria the earthquake worsened an already dire humanitarian crisis help is scarce and resources are even fewer due to the decade-long Civil War there the World Health Organization says the zone of greatest concern is Northwestern Syria as anger grows over the slow delivery of humanitarian help those who desperately need it now face new threats to their survival well joining me now is Mohamed Khairullah, Syrian American and mayor of Prospect Park mayor I just want to get a sense from you about what you're hearing on the ground and what's most needed right now thank you very much Brianna the reality on the ground is there is a 172 000 syrians who have been displaced in the Northwestern part of Syria that is outside the control of the regime 35 000 of those people which equate to about 7 100 families have been placed in about 172 temporary shelter centers uh so far only 114 trucks have entered the north western part of of Syria um more Aid is actually going to the regime controlled areas which has only about 12 percent of the damage in Syria so the need is very dire um I urge my fellow new jerseyans to right now either donate through items that are being collected at certain centers and we have a donation coming up in Mountainville this Saturday and in Paterson on Sunday or donate to organizations reputable organizations that have operations underground inside Syria that have Syrian affiliations and that have been authorized by the US government to give donations to because then they could buy whatever is there locally to help uh the people yeah there's there's been misinformation for sure about humanitarian Aid that's not part of the sanctions is there a sense though mayor that the International Community has failed Syria only about five percent of the area devastated has actually been searched the search for survivors is over is there a sense that the community has been failed absolutely 100 if you look at inside uh Syria which is the area is not serviced by the regime 75 of the aid that's arriving there right now is either through local efforts or from the country of Turkey the the United Nations and International Community has delivered 25 of the aid which as I mentioned earlier is coming in in small drops many of the border crossings are not still being utilized uh which is resulting in hundreds of thousands of people who are not being serviced um so yes the International Community should be acting quickly because right now we are not in a rescue mode anymore but there are still a lot of people who don't have homes who don't have medical care and who just are suffering in this cold weather mayor Mohamed Khairullah of Prospect Park thanks so much for your time thank you