The Syrian town of Al-Taloul, adjacent to the Turkish border, remained untouched by the devastation of the war that has been going on in the country for 12 years, but the small town that separates the Orontes River from Turkey has become almost empty after the devastating and deadly earthquake that occurred last Monday, and the subsequent flood yesterday, Thursday, as a result of the cracking of a small dam. .
Residents of the town of Al-Taloul told Reuters that the earthquake killed between 35 and 40 people in their town, while most of the buildings were either destroyed or damaged.
Reuters quoted Abd al-Rahman al-Jassem, a resident of al-Taloul, as saying that, in the aftermath of the earthquake, residents discovered cracks in a small dam nearby, and tried to block the water with sandbags. the river.
Al-Jassem explained that with the sound of the call to prayer at dawn today, Thursday, the dam collapsed and its water overflowed, flooding fields and homes with water up to knee-level.
"The women and children are now living under the olive trees. They have nothing. Who do we ask (for help)? Everyone is broken. May God help us."
Most of the buildings in the town of Al-Taloul are either destroyed or damaged (Anatolia)
In the context, Firas Aziz Hawash, who has lived in the town for a long time, indicated that about 500 families were displaced due to the floods, and added that "water is flooding the houses now... no one is left in the town. No one can live there anymore. This is a tragedy." .
The death toll from the earthquake exceeded 3,300 in Syria, including more than 2,000 people in the northwest of the country, which is already exposed to a humanitarian crisis after years of isolation and bombing by the Syrian regime forces and its allies.
Almost no outside aid has reached the northwest since the quake, with the first UN aid convoy of 6 trucks entering Thursday morning.