‘Unprecedented Destruction’: Earthquake Becomes Syria’s Newest Nightmare

Syria’s White Helmets have begged for more help rescuing people trapped under collapsed buildings in the wake of a devastating earthquake that has killed more than 5,000 people, with the death toll expected to rise.

“We are racing against time, as there are people still stuck under the rubble, and the number of casualties is rising by the hour. We are in a very desperate situation, left helpless against an unprecedented scale of destruction caused by the earthquake,” Mohammad al-Shebli, a spokesperson for the White Helmets, a volunteer rescue group officially known as the Syria Civil Defence, told VICE World News on the phone. 

Turkey has been hit by three earthquakes over the last two days, but the first, 7.8 magnitude quake originating in Gaziantep, southern Turkey, devastated parts of neighbouring northern Syria too, compounding the misery of years of war and bombardment.

Idlib, the country’s last rebel-held enclave, has been badly affected by the quake. According to the White Helmets, which operates in the area, at least 900 people have died and hundreds more have been injured. 

The area is home to over four million people, mostly made up of refugees displaced by 12 years of civil war and the brutal regime of Bashar al-Assad in the rest of the country. 

The White Helmets says it doesn’t even have enough fuel to keep its rescue operations going, with some members saying they have been relying on backup fuel for the past two months.   

“At the moment our capacity is very limited to a small scale of search-and-rescue teams with the help of the local people who voluntarily try to dig through the rubble. But we are in need of an organised effort and urgent support with heavy machinery, hydraulic cranes and fuel,” said Shebli.

Medical facilities in the region are also threadbare, after years of strafing from Syrian government forces and its Russian allies.  

“Humanitarian organisations in the large area of north-west Syria are already under overwhelming pressure to deal with the people living in the area, and even if we rescue people from under the rubble, there is nowhere to put them in freezing temperatures,” added Shebli. 

The fact that Idlib is outside of government control makes getting aid to the affected people much harder, as there is just one border crossing from Turkey into the territory.

On top of that, roads have collapsed in the aftermath of the quake, making access harder still.

“The infrastructure is damaged, the roads that we used to use for humanitarian work are damaged, we have to be creative in how to get to the people… but we are working hard,” El-Mostafa Benlamlih, the UN resident coordinator, told Reuters.