Syria, a convoy with 1,296 tents for homeless families enters the country: at the moment the aid is not even the pre-earthquake one

ROME – A humanitarian convoy of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), made up of 14 trucks entered North-West Syria from Turkey today through the Hammam border crossing. This first convoy carries 1,296 tents for families (of at least 5 people) left homeless by the earthquake and as many winter kits to insulate them from the cold. More MSF aid convoys, with medical and non-medical supplies, are expected in the coming days. However, MSF warns, an increase in the volume of supplies is urgently needed to deal with the extent of the humanitarian crisis. In the ten days following the earthquake, the number of trucks crossing the border into northwestern Syria was lower than the 2022 average. Having been in the area for more than 10 years, MSF teams were able to respond immediately to the emergency. It is important to remember that the crossing of the border by the MSF convoy was possible thanks to the support of Al Ameena Syrian NGO, partner of MSF.

Huge unmet aid needs. “We emptied our emergency supplies in three days, donating nearly 12 tons (4,000 cubic meters) of surgical equipment and medicines to hospitals. Our teams provided support to health facilities in the area until supplies ran out,” said Hakim Khaldi, MSF head of mission in Syria. “But we haven’t seen any help from outside. Aid is coming in in negligible quantities for the moment.” MSF teams have identified huge unmet needs for aid. Access to housing and decent hygienic conditions are not guaranteed, above all if one considers that the 180,000 newly displaced by the February 6 earthquake join the two million people displaced by 12 years of war and who already live in precarious conditions . MSF is currently providing assistance and medical support to people living in five reception centers in northern Idlib, offering medical treatment and distributing tents, water, bread, blankets, mattresses and fire extinguishers. Activities to ensure continued access to healthcare for both earthquake victims and the general population will begin next week.

Help him with the dropper. Humanitarian aid provided to the region through the cross-border mechanism has not yet reached the average volume it was before the earthquake. Five days after the earthquake, only 10 trucks entered Syria through the Bab al-Hawa crossing, a UN-coordinated border point for humanitarian aid from neighboring Turkey, according to UN data. From 6 to 17 February, a total of 178 truckloads of aid provided by six United Nations agencies passed through northwestern Syria via Bab Al-Hawa and Bab Al-Salama. In 2022, 7,566 truckloads of aid had entered northwestern Syria from Turkey, an average of 227 trucks for the same period. Furthermore, some of the 178 trucks that reached northwestern Syria were not part of the earthquake response, but already planned deliveries. Even after 3 days of border closures, the current volume of trucks barely matches the humanitarian response before the disaster.

The inhuman to insist on the embargo on Syria. At least 45 countries from all over the world immediately rushed to help Turkey, in the aftermath of the catastrophic earthquake on the night between 5 and 6 February last. The same thing has not happened for the Syrian population, despite having suffered the greatest number of victims and being torn apart by a war that has lasted for 12 years, and today still oppressed by an embargo which prevents, even in the midst of a tragedy of propositions biblical, any form of unconditional help. At this point, it is necessary to recall a few numbers concerning the consequences of the earthquake: a magnitude of 7.8°, over 46,500 victims, 115,000 injured, 2 and a half million refugees, 24 million people involved, almost 7,000 buildings destroyed, property damage ranging from a minimum of 50 to a maximum of 85 billion dollars. Therefore, the same sacrosanct zeal reserved for Turkey has not been there for Syria. And this only because the West does not recognize the government of Bashar al Assad as legitimate.

“There are no series A and series B victims”. It goes without saying that the people, the Syrian population, are paying the greatest cost for this state of affairs. In Idlib – for example – a Syrian city in the North-West, near the Turkish border, severely hit by the earthquake, there are many difficulties in getting aid, which would instead be very urgent to get. However, in Aleppo, thousands of people are hosted in the Franciscan structures, who show no intention of wanting to return to their homes for fear that the earthquake will strike again. Food and blankets are still distributed in the places managed by the Franciscans, “but we urgently need help”. The Damascus government itself is unable to deal with this situation, due to lack of means and – precisely – because of the sanctions. “Hope – he told the Catholic-inspired periodical Times , Roula Mistrih, who works for the St. Francis of Assisi parish in Aleppo – is that the US and the European Union reconsider their position towards Damascus, at least for the time necessary to help the country manage the humanitarian catastrophe and rebuild. The Syrian victims of the earthquake cannot be considered second-class compared to the Turkish ones”.