Northern Syria -

With the state of panic that struck the population as a result of the earthquake that struck southern Turkey and northern Syria on Monday evening, Salim al-Muhammad was unable to flee his home in the city of Sarmada, north of Idlib, because he sustained a broken leg after a stone fell on it during the devastating earthquake on the sixth of this month. .

Al-Mohammad felt his death approaching after more than 10 seconds had passed since the strong tremor, and his children began screaming and crying, but he was unable to do anything.

In his interview with Al-Jazeera, Al-Muhammad said, "A few minutes after the earthquake passed, my friends carried me to the camp near the residential apartments, in order to obtain shelter with my family in my brother's modest tent."

Al-Muhammad added, "Hundreds of families were in their cars on the road, and some were next to the cars, where it was very cold, while the houses were completely empty."

On Monday evening, northwestern Syria was subjected to a strong earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale, which led to the destruction of homes in the city of Idlib and its countryside.

The tremor caused civilian casualties after the collapse of walls and residential buildings in the town of Meles and the cities of Harem and Salqin in Idlib countryside, as well as the areas of Sharan and Jandiris in the countryside of Aleppo.

Amidst the screams of children and the panic of families, people took refuge in cars and camps when the earthquake occurred (Al-Jazeera Net)

Dozens of injuries

Mounir al-Mustafa, deputy director of the Syrian Civil Defense, indicated that about 133 people were injured of varying degrees as a result of stones falling on them, jumping from high buildings, or stampedes, and others fainted.

He added, in his interview with Al-Jazeera Net, that "the collapse of two cracked uninhabited buildings and the minaret of a mosque in Jenderes, north of Aleppo, and a number of cracked buildings in Khirbet al-Jawz, al-Hamziyah, al-Maland, al-Zouf, and Beit Soufan, west of Idlib, were documented without injuries."

He pointed to the recording of the collapse of the walls and balconies of houses in several cities and towns in the countryside of Aleppo and Idlib, stressing that their teams are working to treat the injured, inspect the affected places, provide assistance and open the roads.

The earthquake caused thousands of civilians to rush to the streets and to their cars, stressing that this tremor is the strongest and most influential after the devastating earthquake two weeks ago.

Crying and screaming of children

Hamza Al-Adnan ran to the street in the Meles area, north of Idlib, seconds after the earthquake, with his children, and confirmed that he heard the cracking of the walls while he was going down the stairs with his family, as his house was completely cracked.

He added, in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net, that the sounds of crying and the screams of children fill the streets, the electricity is cut off, and people are shivering from the cold and find no shelter except for some of their cars, and some of them are displaced to refugee camps.

For his part, Muhammad Toban decided to move his belongings from his house in the Dana area, north of Idlib, and return to the Zawiya Mountain area in the southern countryside of Idlib, although it is close to the combat fronts with the Syrian regime forces.

Toban explained - in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net - that he owns a house in his town that he built in a mountainous area that is considered earthquake-resistant, and it is one-story, meaning that its impact is much less than living on high floors.

He added that his children "have become living in a constant state of terror and panic. I can no longer bear homelessness and the fear of building falling over my head and the heads of my children, so I decided to flee at night."