The Syrians between the hammer of war and the anvil of the earthquake

Syrians have suffered and are still suffering from the scourge of war and its disastrous repercussions for more than a decade. The Syrians were not satisfied with their crises of hunger, asylum, displacement, destruction of infrastructure, oppression and death, until the earthquake came suddenly and compounded their crises and caused them double pain.

The Syrians tried to rescue their victims from under the rubble with primitive means and equipment after the failure of the international community, which showed an ugly picture since the first hours of the earthquake, and their alleged humanity did not move towards the Syrian pain. They demanded food and medical supplies and tents for those who lost their homes, but they did not find a listening ear, and the response was not quick, which increased the horror of the disaster and doubled the number of victims.

The epicenter of the devastating earthquake was in the Kahramanmaraş area near the Syrian border, so the catastrophic damages of the earthquake inside Syria were more concentrated in the governorates of Idlib, Latakia and Aleppo close to the borders, and its repercussions exceeded to include the Syrian refugees inside Turkey, as the majority of these refugees live near From the borders of their country since the beginning of the Syrian war, as those border areas were the favorite place for the Syrians, some of whom chose to live on the ruins of their country, Syria, while some were forced to stay there and work as a result of the area’s cheapness in terms of house rents and the prices of food and medical items related to their daily lives, as it took control after The earthquake affected the Syrian refugees living there, feelings of fear and anxiety about the horror of the disaster, so some of them went to search for their relatives under the rubble, hoping to save them, while most of them remained distracted, wandering on their faces and unable to concentrate, and their thoughts did not stop while they were lost in the streets and parks to get a bite of food and a bottle of water And a box of medicine and a tent sheltering them.

As a result of the deteriorating economic reality for most Syrians in Turkey, they were forced to live in poor neighborhoods, so with the advent of the earthquake disaster, hundreds of thousands of them became homeless and dead under the rubble, and there is no accurate statistics on the number of Syrians who lost their lives under the rubble, but the numbers, unfortunately, are likely to increase in light of The large number of missing people and the loss of hope to save new lives from under the rubble of buildings, and perhaps the posts on social media regarding mourning refer to frightening numbers of the size of the Syrian victims, to show the loss of entire families’ lives, and the loss of any news about thousands of other families.

Inside Syria and in the affected areas, the earthquake caused massive destruction and the collapse of a large number of buildings and cracks in others, making them unfit for habitation. Now mosques, schools and playgrounds are used to shelter those affected by the earthquake, in light of their numbers increasing every hour and continuously since the first hours of the earthquake. Those affected fear that Returning to their homes, which were not, in fact, ordinary homes, because they were displaced inside the country and lived in squalid homes, and their situation after the earthquake became much more difficult. Those affected, especially women and children, are in need of great support, as there is a need for food, water and winter clothes. And diapers for children and women’s pads, on the one hand, and on the other hand, in addition to the earthquake, the bad weather conditions in terms of low temperature, rain and cold that reached the point of freezing exacerbated the crisis more and more and made it double.

Even the archaeological sites were not spared from the earthquake that affected several Syrian archaeological sites. The Aleppo Citadel suffered moderate damage, as parts of the Ottoman mill fell, and cracks and fissures occurred in parts of the northeastern defensive walls of the citadel. Large parts of the Ayyubid mosque minaret also fell, and the entrances were damaged The castle, and parts of the entrance to the Mamluk defensive tower fell, and the façade of the Ottoman hospice was damaged. The historic neighborhood of Aqaba, adjacent to the city’s western wall, also suffered collapses, as well as the historic neighborhood of Al-Jalloum, which was severely damaged.

In conclusion, perhaps the bright spot in the matter is the solidarity of the Syrians with each other, as the regions of northeastern Syria, for example, but not limited to, and since the first day of the earthquake, witnessed solidarity campaigns and collection of donations and aid from all its people, Kurds and Arabs, in support of their brothers affected by the earthquake in the rest of the regions. Syrians. Syrians in Europe also rushed to collect donations for the needy and affected people inside Syria, amid widespread solidarity from Arab, Kurdish and European citizens.