Northern Syria was already ravaged by civil war. Then the devastating earthquake hit. Our correspondent went to the isolated region — and brought back this rare dispatch.
People walk past collapsed buildings on Thursday in the town of Jinderis, in Syria's Aleppo province, days after a massive earthquake devastated the region.People walk past collapsed buildings on Thursday in the town of Jinderis, in Syria's Aleppo province, days after a massive earthquake devastated the region.JINDERIS, Syria — Mohammed Juma sleeps on the heap of rubble that crushed his family as he survived.
By contrast, across the border in the northwest of Syria, residents of the town of Jinderis heard the screams of those trapped under the rubble but, without the right machinery and equipment, were powerless to save them."We don't understand. Why are we alone?" asked Mahmoud Hafar, the mayor of Jinderis.
Mohammed Juma said his wife, Alia, and his two children — 20-month old Ali and 6-month old Hussein — were alive after their home collapsed on top of them. Juma and his neighbors pulled at the shattered concrete for hours until their hands bled, but the effort was futile.Now the Syrian civil defense teams are using the few excavators they do have to recover the dead. On Friday morning in Jinderis, at least 850 bodies had been pulled from the rubble.
After years of war, they've been left with nothing. Tens of thousands now live with almost no access to basic services in makeshift tents set up in the olive groves where the mud clogs and weighs down the legs of children playing outside.Even before this earthquake, the United Nations said 4.1 million people were in need of humanitarian aid. The Syrian regime considers bringing aid to these opposition-held areas across the border from Turkey a violation of its sovereignty.
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Earthquake that devastated Turkey, Syria created massive ruptures in the Earth’s surface, photos showOne of the longest ruptures discovered by scientists in the Mediterranean is nearly 200 miles long.
Read more »
Satellite images show Turkey-Syria quakes 'similar to the 1906 earthquake that destroyed San Francisco,' NASA saysSatellite images from the NASA Earth Observatory show the scale of destruction in Turkey and Syria.
Read more »
Years of Foreign Intervention in Syria Made Recent Earthquakes More DestructiveAs the death toll tops 17,000 in Turkey and Syria from Monday’s twin earthquakes, we look at the situation in Syria, where 12 years of brutal war have left the country’s institutions in tatters.
Read more »
How to help Turkey and Syria earthquake victims
Read more »