Published on: 15 February 2023
Death toll surpasses 40,000
Door of Hope International is providing emergency relief to victims of the devastating earthquake. We are focusing on helping victims in Syria where we already have teams on the ground.
By Britta Milovansev – DOHI News
On February 6, 2023, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Syria. Within 12 hrs a second earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale hit the region.
While enormous aid is pouring into Turkey, victims of the earthquake in Syria feel forgotten by the world.
The most earthquake-stricken area of Syria is in the northwest. Forced into excile for defying Assad,
According to the Guardian, with no one now left alive under the devastation in Jindires, a scramble is under way to source life-saving supplies. Jindires was home to thousands of displaced people. People in Jindires, have been begging for help to dig survivors from the rubble and provide shelter and food in the midst of a cold winter.
Anger at slow earthquake response
It has been a political struggle to get aid into the devasted region of Syria as President Bashar al-Assad has refused to open the border crossings in north-west, held by the opposition.
Syrians, already pulled down by years of poverty are angry at the slow response of the world. They have lived through crisis after crisis. Now, they are reeling in the wake of two devastating earthquakes and a government that won’t let aid through the borders.
Five days after the earthquake nothing has been going into Syria. On Monday, the UN announced it had won the approval of the president. The first bit of aid trickled in on Tuesday.
“Assad is worse than the earthquake,” said Tareq Aamer.“ And the UN is killing us more by its policy towards Bashar. We don’t need to wait for them to open the borders. They are already open. Why are people asking for their permission?”
Crisis upon crisis
In hospitals moral is running low. Medical resources are drained.
Afrin hospital, one of the region’s biggest, received 750 patients, many of them badly injured or dying, in the hours after the earthquakes. Many were children, up to 15 of whom required amputations. “They are the most difficult things to perform,” said Wadan al-Nasr, who performed most of the surgeries. “Not technically, but because of what they represent.”
In a nearby ward, three-year-old Nour lay sleeping, her one remaining leg covered by a blanket. Her other leg had been amputated in the rubble of the family home, where her mother and siblings had died. Her father came to visit her most days, and her comfort in between was a hand-shaped balloon. Nour’s tiny hand held one of its fingers.
WHO says northwest Syria of ‘greatest concern’
The World Health Organization has revealed that it is particularly concerned over the welfare of people in northwestern Syria,
“It’s clear that the zone of greatest concern at the moment is the area of northwestern Syria,” WHO Health Emergencies Programme Director Michael Ryan told a press briefing in Geneva, Switzerland.
“The impact of the earthquake in areas of Syria controlled by the government is significant, but the services are there and there is access to those people,” Ryan said. “We have to remember here that in Syria, we’ve had 10 years of war. The health system is amazingly fragile. People have been through hell.”
WHO asked President Assad to open more border crossing with Turkey to get aid to areas hit by powerful earthquakes
“We requested that he [al-Assad] allow additional cross-border access points, which he indicated he was open to,” WHO told a briefing in Geneva.
“On Monday, two more cross border points were opened, allowing convoys from Turkey into the northwest of the Syrian Arab Republic,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Door of Hope International team is working closely with the local church. I am deeply thankful that they are working quickly to respond to the immediate needs of the Syrian earthquake survivors.
But they cannot meet all the needs alone.
I know that together we can show God’s extraordinary love in the midst of this catastrophe and make a big impact in the lives of those that have survived.
Paul H. Popov, President
Your donation will provide immediate aid, blankets, food & water and other essential items to victims of the earthquakes in Syria.
