Northern Syria -

"We felt like the horrors of the Day of Resurrection; the earth kept shaking for two minutes, and after we went down to the streets, civil defense vehicles and ambulances began rushing to rescue those trapped under the rubble," this is how Muhammad al-Mustafa, a displaced person in the Sarmada area north of Idlib, tells a story of how he managed to escape with His family is from the building he lives in in northern Syria, at four in the morning, after feeling the earthquake.

Al-Mustafa added that the horrors of the earthquake began to unfold in the early morning, with the spread of pictures of the areas where residential buildings collapsed and hospitals filled with the injured, as it is expected that the number of victims and injured will reach more than a thousand during the coming hours.

The Civil Defense in northwest Syria calls for international intervention to rescue those trapped under the rubble (Al-Jazeera)

Raw numbers

An earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale struck southern Turkey, while its effects spread to various regions of southern Turkey and northern Syria, which caused a humanitarian catastrophe following the collapse of dozens of buildings and the fall of dozens of civilian casualties throughout the region.

During the first hours that followed the earthquake, the collapse of dozens of residential buildings was recorded in several Syrian governorates, including Idlib, Aleppo, Lattakia, and Raqqa, with people stuck under the rubble in several areas, and then dozens of aftershocks followed.

In preliminary statistics, the Syrian Civil Defense announced that the number of earthquake victims had risen to 147 dead and 240 injured in opposition-held areas in northwestern Syria.

As for the conditions of civilians, the displaced Muhammad Al-Mustafa explained that most of the area is crowded with displaced people, and it is not qualified to receive earthquakes and earthquakes, so the losses are frightening and there is no shelter for people from the expected aftershocks, which prompted the Civil Defense team to call on the international community to assume its responsibilities in the face of this disaster. And to take emergency measures to prevent the situation from worsening, and to support the rescue of civilians in Syria.

Activists expect an increase in the number of victims in northwestern Syria (Al-Jazeera)

pleas

In its statement, the Civil Defense team referred to declaring northwestern Syria a "completely affected area", while calling on all local authorities and civil forces to mobilize their cadres, with a recommendation to all humanitarian, health and relief organizations operating in Syria to share work to cover the necessary needs of all as possible. He called on all international humanitarian organizations to intervene quickly to provide relief to the afflicted and meet their needs.

"We call on the international community to assume its responsibilities in the face of this catastrophic catastrophe and to take emergency measures to prevent the situation from worsening, to support the rescue of civilians in Syria, and to put pressure on the Assad regime and its Russian ally in a manner that ensures that no bombing occurs in these areas," the statement added.

And the Civil Defense statement stated that these appeals come in implementation of the emergency and response mechanism in the Syrian Civil Defense, and as a result of the catastrophic situation of building collapse, sharp cracks, hundreds of injuries, trapped people, and dozens of deaths, with a significant shortage of capabilities and services, and the lack of shelters and safe gathering points, and conditions Windy and snowy weather and low temperatures, as described in the statement.

humanitarian catastrophe

In the context, the director of the Syrian Civil Defense, Raed Al-Saleh, said, "There is a catastrophe in every sense of the word in northern Syria because of the earthquake, and the number of victims and injuries is very large, hundreds of families under the rubble, and tragic and disastrous conditions in northwestern Idlib."

Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, he added, "The civil defense teams have mobilized, and we appeal to organizations and countries to intervene quickly to save the families who remained under the rubble of their homes. A large number of families have become homeless in light of an air and rain storm, and these families need foodstuffs, heating materials and medical care." very important".

Al-Saleh indicated - in his presentation of the conditions in the region after the earthquake - that the civil defense teams need heavy machinery and a lot of equipment, appealing to the international community to help the people who are still stuck under the rubble until now, according to him.

Calls for international organizations to rescue the Syrians trapped under the rubble and provide aid (Al-Jazeera)

The stranded are pleading for their rescue

In a sad humanitarian scene, Al-Saleh revealed that the civil defense teams monitored the voices of civilians under the rubble, with the inability to help them except for 10% of the actual need for assistance.

The Syrian Civil Defense teams, the "White Helmets", declared a state of emergency to rescue those trapped under the rubble throughout the area, and called on residents to vacate residential buildings, go to open places, and inform the defense teams of those trapped under the rubble.

The Ministry of Defense (affiliated to the Syrian Interim Government) also called on all military units and formations in the Syrian National Army to provide assistance to civil defense personnel and to provide the required mechanisms to rescue and aid the injured and those affected by the earthquake.

For his part, media activist Ayham al-Sheikh confirmed that about 25 residential buildings in the Basniya area, north of Idlib, have turned into rubble, with the number of victims expected to reach 1,000 in the coming hours, due to the collapse of dozens of residential buildings on top of their residents, according to him.

He explained - in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net - that the civil defense teams and ambulance teams work around the clock, stressing that the scale of the disaster requires urgent international intervention and that the presence of dozens of affected areas prevents the civil defense from providing assistance to everyone.

response committee

In a related context, the "Salvation Government" announced the formation of what it described as an "emergency response committee".

The earthquake caused great panic throughout the region, as thousands of civilians took to the streets throughout the southern governorates of Turkey, and the rural areas of Idlib, Hama, and Aleppo, at a time when dozens of civilians were declared dead in several Turkish states in a preliminary toll, pending the final figures. to the number of victims.