Aleppo – Idlib – “Al-Quds Al-Arabi”: In a more painful aspect of the humanitarian catastrophe, which claimed the lives of more than fifty thousand people in Turkey and Syria as a result of the devastating earthquake that struck the two countries on the sixth of February, nearly 5.3 million Syrians were displaced, according to the United Nations. United. In testimonies and inspections confirming the presence of thousands of surviving families living in the open in northwest Syria, as the Syrian Civil Defense teams documented the collapse and cracking of more than 2,000 buildings, in whole or in part, while thousands of buildings and houses were cracked and became unfit for habitation in all areas hit by the earthquake. . The director of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, Fadl Abdel-Ghani, made it clear in a special statement to “Al-Quds Al-Arabi” that the preliminary estimates of the Syrians displaced by the earthquake – without talking about displacement as a result of the war that the Syrian regime has been waging against its people for more than a decade – left more than 70,000 homeless people in their homes. out in the open without any shelter. Abdel-Ghani said: As for the displaced Syrians, there are about 70,000 people displaced by the earthquake alone, in northwestern Syria, and so far there is no accurate tally to know the numbers of the displaced Syrians in Turkey, as the situation is more difficult, according to him.
Displaced between tents and tractors
He added that the homeless in the open need shelter first, so above all, there is a huge shortage of tents. These are homeless in the open in huge numbers. There is food aid, but we demand tents and shelter mainly and specifically.
For its part, the “Syria Response Coordinators” organization said on Thursday that the number of displaced people documented until the tenth day is 171,843, with the census continuing, while the number of displaced people living in shelters reached 35,843, equivalent to 7,122 families distributed in 172 centers spread in Idlib and the countryside of Aleppo.
As you wander between the countryside of Aleppo and Idlib, northwestern Syria, you will almost never lose sight of the spread of many homeless families fleeing the disaster of the earthquake, sleeping in the open or in cars after the earthquake completely or partially destroyed their homes and they became uninhabitable. And in a temperature of (2 below zero), ten families displaced from the neighboring villages to the city of Jenderes are sleeping on the land, whose homes were completely destroyed by the earthquake that struck the city, and they are now taking their cramped cars as a shelter for their children.
Abdul Karim from the Hama countryside told Al-Quds Al-Arabi: Local organizations have equipped Al-Sawaqa School, east of Jenderes, about 5 kilometers away, on the road to Afrin Jenderes, to house the homeless, but due to the huge number, there are not enough tents left for all the homeless. Out in the open in the midst of this cold weather, they light a fire every once in a while to send warmth to their bones that makes them forget the coldness of the weather. According to the young man in his thirties, these families refused the request from the organizations, and their members refused offers to go to the shelter centers that were equipped in Afrin and Azaz. They want to stay near their destroyed homes, in the hope that they will bring out the remains of their needs and some of the money that they lost, and in the hope that they will receive a number of tents to shelter them. near the ruins of their homes.
And to the northwest countryside of Afrin, especially in the village of Kokharah in the Maabatli countryside, north of the city, where about 80 out of 130 houses in the village were damaged. Ahmed Al-Barho told Al-Quds Al-Arabi, who was displaced from the city of Aleppo and a resident of the region: Most of the villagers spend their nights in the open air, because of fear of aftershocks and the destruction of a large part of the village’s homes. The village also lost dozens of its children who lived in the city of Jenderes, some of whom slept. In tents or in a cart pulled by an agricultural tractor that was covered with parchment to protect from the cold, and during the day they sit near their homes to inspect them, remove rubble and repair as much as possible.
More than half of the residents of the city of Salqin spend their nights on the outskirts of the city, due to the demolition and cracking of houses that are no longer habitable, forcing many families to build extremist tents or go to shelters that are being prepared in the area. Safia Muhammad, 43 years old, took refuge with her children in tents in the open. She is a widow who had previously been displaced from the city of Aleppo, after the house she lived in in the city of Salqin was demolished. Safia told Al-Quds Al-Arabi: I and my five children fled quickly, along with my sister, who is a widow and has 3 children, our neighbors and their children, all of our husbands perished in the war.
And she adds: We spent many hours under the weight of cold, fear, rain and darkness because of the earthquake, and we are still looking for shelter to protect us from buildings that are threatened with falling. . Safia, her sister, our two neighbors, and their children live in one tent, which may not accommodate one family. Safia is all hoping to get an additional tent.
Salqin: 40 seconds, its features completely changed
Salqin is considered one of the largest cities in the northwest of Syria, with a population of about 400,000 people. It is characterized by adjacent multi-storey buildings of an archaeological nature, in the middle of which is an old heritage market. In 40 seconds, its features changed due to the earthquake, and it had the largest share of victims and destruction.
Bilal Safouq, the director of the “Make a Basma” volunteer team working in the city of Salqin, told Al-Quds Al-Arabi: We worked with all our energy to follow up on those affected by the earthquake, by preparing tents and shelters, but the extent of the destruction is great. 51 full-story buildings, in addition to hundreds of cracked, uninhabitable houses. Most of their residents are outside the city, in extreme tents and shelters, or with their relatives in nearby rural villages.
Safouq talked about the presence of many poor, chaste families who do not ask for aid, which worsened their living conditions. He added: They are in dire need of all kinds of humanitarian aid, and we find it difficult to reach them, due to the large size of the city, and its people are still working to remove the rubble.
The Syrian Civil Defense teams continue their search and recovery operations, especially in Jenderes, Harem, and Salqin, which were subjected to great infrastructure damage. According to the testimonies of the residents, the area that was completely destroyed did not witness the removal of rubble and the opening of roads, as the matter, according to them, takes several months, high capabilities, and heavy machinery. There are also tens of thousands of cracked houses, where two teams from the Civil Defense and the Engineers Syndicate were formed to identify the damaged and habitable buildings. According to the Civil Defense, 40% of the schools have been damaged and are no longer usable, and 70% of the hospitals were damaged by the earthquake.
