UN aid chief in Turkey, to visit Syria to assess quake needs

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths will visit Gaziantep in Turkey and Aleppo and Damascus in Syria this weekend to assess needs and see how the United Nations can best step up support, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday.

Guterres also pushed for more aid access to opposition-controlled northwest Syria.

"Roads are damaged. People are dying. Now is the time to explore all possible avenues to get aid and personnel into all affected areas. We must put people first," Guterres told reporters in New York.