How the Earthquake Compounded Syrians’ Trauma, While the World Stood By
February’s massive earthquake brought already grievous suffering to a new level in northwest Syria, an area held by the opposition to Bashar al-Assad’s government and under constant attack.
In that region of four to six million people, the majority of whom have fled the Assad regime, rescuers could do little to unearth their neighbors, friends, and family members.
“My colleagues could hear the screams and the pleading of civilians under the rubble post-earthquake, pleading to be rescued,” said Mayson Almisri of Syria Civil Defence (the White Helmets). “It’s difficult to see that so many people were not able to be saved because of the lack of aid and support.”
Since the Assad regime brutally cracked down on peaceful protests 12 years ago, it has continuously attacked civilians, with the assistance of Russia, Iran, and Iran-backed militias, forcing more than half of the population to flee their homes. While large-scale military confrontations have diminished, the Syrian government continues to perpetrate war crimes and crimes against humanity, including aerial bombardments, arbitrary detentions, and enforced disappearance.
Syrian civil society members report that even since the earthquake, civilians in opposition-held northwest Syria have been subjected to air strikes targeting civilian areas and infrastructure. The regime has long blocked aid from reaching them. After the earthquake struck, it did not immediately allow aid to flow, taking days to open up limited supply routes.
Celine Kassem, media coordinator for the Syrian Emergency Task Force, visited northwest Syria nine days after the earthquake. She described conversations with people exhausted by trauma.
“They just kept asking why, why has the world once again, after this natural disaster, forgotten us?” Kassem said. There is limited time after an earthquake when countries and organizations can make a difference with sophisticated rescue equipment. “We needed these resources to save lives,” she said, but much of it was blocked, as it has been throughout years of conflict, by the Assad regime and Russia. The people Kassem and a group of journalists met with talked and talked: “They just wanted someone to listen and to recognize their pain after all these years.”
Almisri and Kassem spoke at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, whose Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide continuously raises awareness of the ongoing atrocities in Syria. The event focused on the Syrian women’s experiences.
A feeling of guilt originally inspired Almisri to join the White Helmets. She had been a journalist for Syria’s government-controlled media, but quit after reporters were forced to call peaceful protesters terrorists. After her younger brother was murdered by regime forces and she was prevented from giving him lifesaving first aid, she decided to join the White Helmets.
The White Helmets, accustomed to rescuing people from shelled buildings, did what they could after the earthquake, despite having little to work with other than outdated and unspecialized equipment. “The feeling of helplessness that we felt then and we feel now — the feeling of guilt — I think for me and my colleagues at the White Helmets will remain with us forever.”
“That’s why I call on support for the White Helmets and people in northwest Syria,” Almisri said, “because people deserve the right of life.”
The Museum event was co-hosted by the Syrian Emergency Task Force and the White Helmets.
Learn more about the women volunteers of the White Helmets:
Learn more about the Syrian Emergency Task Force, whose executive director, Mouaz Moustafa, translated for Almisri.
Learn more about the work of the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide.
