Abboud Al-Sobh, 28, has been unemployed for 15 days, after the iron factory in which he works stopped production due to the earthquake that struck northwestern Syria.

Abboud used to receive a wage of 60 Turkish liras (about 3 dollars) per day, and he had been living for 4 years in a tent in the Kafr Daryan area in Idlib countryside, near the Syrian-Turkish border, after he was displaced from his town south of Idlib several years ago.

Abboud complains about his poor living situation after the earthquake, and he says in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net, "The commercial movement is non-existent. I was unable to find another job opportunity. Most of the factories and commercial complexes are suspended or partially operating. I am afraid that this matter will take a long time."

The earthquake destroyed a number of shops, damaged markets, and cracked some of them in northern Syria. A number of merchants also died under the rubble, while industrial workshops stopped working due to the decline in demand or the preoccupation of their owners with their families affected by the earthquake.

Most of the supported projects - especially construction materials projects - also stopped after most of the quarries' machinery and contractors' projects were sent to remove the rubble and extract those trapped under the rubble during the past days, which led to the unemployment of thousands of young men in northwestern Syria.

High unemployment

Bashar al-Amour - a contractor working with humanitarian organizations north of Idlib near the border with Turkey - has stopped working since February 6 due to the earthquake, without a new notification to start work.

Al-Amour confirms in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net that he employs more than 100 workers in building materials, all of whom have become unemployed, and some of them are asking for financial advances to feed their families, considering that if the matter takes too long, it will cause a new disaster for the poor.

He added, "The price of cement rose by $20 and steel by $100 from Turkey, which affects professionals in general and prevents them from working, because the Turkish side has prevented the export of many materials due to the increased demand for them inside the country."

In turn, the "Syria Economic Working Group" stressed the need for northern Syria for 10 billion dollars to rebuild it again after the earthquake, "according to the correct building principles."

For its part, the "Syria Response Coordinators" team estimated the initial material losses in the northwestern regions of Syria as a result of the earthquake at about $356 million, suggesting that the numbers would increase when accurate calculations are made and the material damages are counted.

In its report, the team counted more than 965,000 people affected, with the possibility of the number of affected people increasing to about 1.3 million as a result of the huge increase in the number of people in need of emergency humanitarian assistance.

The report mentioned that there are about 14,000 uninhabitable homes in need of demolition, the appearance of cracks in about 11,000 other homes, and the region is expected to recover from the consequences of the earthquake by 60% after 3 years, and the need for 5 years to return to "the situation it was in before the disaster." .

The earthquake destroyed a number of shops and damaged markets (Al-Jazeera)

Numerous losses

In turn, the economic researcher, Muhammad Nibal Qalaji, said that the first economic loss resulting from the earthquake includes direct losses, which are the result of the destruction of infrastructure and buildings and damage to electrical appliances, furniture and other belongings.

Qalaji added that the second economic loss is the indirect losses resulting from business interruption, the closure of schools, universities and factories, the damage to the distribution network, the costs of sheltering the displaced, and compensation for those affected, and he considered that the indirect losses are greater than the direct losses.

Industrial and commercial movement stopped due to the earthquake (Al-Jazeera)

Industry and trade movement

Industrial and commercial movement was significantly affected by the earthquake, as some factories and workshops stopped working, either due to the collapse or cracking of buildings, or due to the displacement of workers and the semi-stoppage of the distribution network.

Qalaji says, "The economy in the Syrian opposition areas is a consumer economy that depends on foreign aid and relief activities, and this is the reason behind the high unemployment rate, and the solution lies in directing foreign aid and relief support towards productive activities, such as setting up factories for cement, vegetable oils, sugar, and other consumables so that We raise the rate of self-sufficiency, rely on ourselves, and reduce our dependence on foreign aid."

He continued, "As long as the structural composition of the economy does not change, economic indicators will remain weak, and the population of northern Syria will remain at the mercy of foreign aid. productive capacities and reduce dependence on abroad.