This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

UN agencies launch emergency response after Türkiye and Syria quakes

After two massive earthquakes hit southern Türkiye and Syria in the early hours of Monday, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis, the UN Secretary-General has pledged the Organization’s help and solidarity.

More than 1,500 people have reportedly been killed and many more injured and the toll continues to rise as rescue efforts go on.

The UN’s aid agencies and partners have scrambled to help many thousands of reported victims.

Emergency medical teams from the World Health Organization, WHO, have been given the green light to provide essential care for the injured and most vulnerable, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a tweet.

Specialist UN surge teams from the Office of UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) also tweeted that they were “ready to deploy”, amid multiple horrifying social media posts showing huge buildings collapsing in heavily built-up areas.

Reports indicate that a 7.8 magnitude earthquake was followed by another one, almost as powerful. The epicentre was in southern Türkiye, where nearby Gaziantep – an important UN aid hub for northern Syria - was among the cities affected.

Although the earthquakes were felt as far away as Lebanon, closer to its centre, northern Syria’s Aleppo and Idlib also reportedly saw thousands of building collapse, including two hospitals.

Humanitarian needs in northern Syria are already huge, as the region is home to millions displaced by the country’s long-running war.

Guterres: peace and equality for poorer nations top priorities for 2023

Staying with the UN Secretary-General, who on Monday delivered his strategic briefing for 2023 to the General Assembly in New York.

Topping his list of priorities: a New Agenda For Peace and equality for poorer nations.

Taking a swipe at political short-termism and corporate greed, António Guterres maintained that it was deeply irresponsible – and even immoral – to think that the future “is someone else’s problem”.

This is despite the fact that so many urgent global threats need fixing, the UN chief said, as he cited the Russian invasion of Ukraine, climate catastrophe, rising nuclear risks and the undermining of multilateralism. 

Solutions do exist for the climate, the global financial system and on conflict resolution, the Secretary-General insisted, as he unveiled a New Agenda For Peace: the UN’s plan to boost international cooperation.

This would involve regional forces which could spearhead a new generation of peacekeeping, Mr. Guterres explained, in a call for the African Union to shore up many UN missions which are both under-resourced and increasingly under attack.

South Sudan: UNMISS strongly condemns deadly violence in Central Equatoria

To South Sudan, where the UN peacekeeping mission, UNMISS, has condemned violence in Central Equatoria State that claimed at least 27 lives and injured many others in recent days.

At least 2,000 people - mainly women and children – are now internally displaced after the latest clashes that stem from longstanding tensions between cattle herders and host communities, UNMISS said in a statement.

The mission welcomed the South Sudanese government’s decision to deploy troops to affected areas to quell tensions.

And it said that UN peacekeepers would increase patrols and engage with community leaders to bring an end to the hostilities, focusing on peaceful solutions.

In the past two weeks, escalating violence has left at least 45 civilians dead in Central Equatoria’s Kajo-Keji and Mangalla Payam, among other areas.

Daniel Johnson, UN News.