'We need everything': Aid workers call for urgent help for Syrian quake victims

Syria's opposition-controlled enclave of Idlib, on the border with Turkey, is reeling from Monday's deadly earthquakes. The region has already been devastated by years of civil war, and aid agencies now say the need for international assistance is urgent.

Civil defence workers and residents search through the rubble of collapsed buildings in the town of Harem in Idlib province, Syria, on 6 February 2023. © AP - Ghaith Alsayed

A series of tremors devastated Idlib province, which is held by Syrian rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad. Thousands of people have been killed and injured. 

The civil defence force known as the White Helmets, who are more accustomed to rescuing people from airstrikes by the Syrian regime, are now facing an even bigger task, battling to free survivors as they contend with freezing conditions. 

Aid groups warn the deadly quakes have destroyed much of what little infrastructure remained from more than a decade of civil war. As a result, there is a desperate need for international support. 

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On Thursday, the first aid convoy entered the Idlib region.

Still, aid agencies say much more is needed, with the threat of disease, cold, and hunger hanging over an area that has already endured more than a decade of fighting, explains Yakzan Shishakly, co-founder of the Maram Foundation, an aid agency working in Syria.

"Normal people in a normal situation cannot survive outside, so imagine no housing, no tents, no food, no hospitals – even hospitals cannot take the numbers, because [they've] already been over 50 percent shut down because of funding," he told RFI.

"There is no way to describe it."

Earthquake victims in Besnia village in Idlib province, Syria, on 6 February 2023. © AP - Ghaith Alsayed

The most urgent needs are medical supplies, blankets and food, Shishakly said, though he stressed: "We need everything."

While there are many reasons while aid is slow to reach the area, part of the problem is bureaucratic: under pressure from Russia and China, United Nations aid can only be delivered to the parts of northern Syria under rebel control via one border crossing, an arrangement that other members of the UN Security Council have unsuccessfully sought to expand. 

"We need to put all the political differences aside, we need to focus on the people on the ground, be human for once and deliver," Shishakly says.