A rare glimpse into the aftermath of an earthquake in rebel-held SyriaExBulletin

NPR got a rare glimpse into the earthquake zone in rebel-held Syria, where help and news have been extremely difficult to come by. The disaster left a trail of devastation and people are crying out for more aid.

Joanna Summers, host:

We will get a rare look at the earthquake zone in Syria, where it was very difficult to get help and news. The earthquake that devastated the border areas between Turkey and Syria killed at least 23,000 people, injured tens of thousands, and left many more homeless. But while rescue crews and donors have access to Turkey, the politics of the Syrian civil war have limited supplies there. NPR’s Ruth Sherlock reached across borders today, finding people in desperate need of help. She joins us now from behind across the border in Turkey. And above all, Roth, for several years, Turkey has rarely allowed journalists to cross the border and go into northern Syria. So why did Turkey decide to grant you access?

RUTH SHERLOCK, BYLINE: I think the change here is that the Turks — you know, want to show the world how terrible it is there after the earthquake and encourage foreign countries to send aid. Turkish officials took us inside, and at the border we met Israf Acre, who is overseeing Turkish aid to one of the provinces of Syria that was badly affected by this earthquake. Speak through an interpreter.

ESREF AKCA: (through translator) Turkey is in dire need, you know, of help from international organizations that we can only try to, you know, heal our wounds.

Sherlock: He says Turkey needs time to heal. And the main point here is that now, five days into this earthquake, almost no international aid has reached northern Syria.

Summer: five days. I mean, why is that? Why is it so difficult for aid to reach this area?

Sherlock: It’s partial context. This area is still under the control of the militias opposed to the Syrian government. And although there are millions of people living in this area now, aid groups say the Syrian regime has been trying to starve and deprive them of their lives for more than a decade. Over the years, the United Nations has kept one route open for aid supplies from Turkey across the border, although this is disputed by Syria and its allies such as Russia and China. Even the ability to keep that crossing open gets put to a vote in the United Nations Security Council from time to time. Some say the UN could act on its own, but that would set a precedent for other countries to violate their sovereignty. The United Nations does not want to achieve this.

So look. It really comes down to this very complicated geopolitics with people stuck in the middle. What I can tell you about that situation is — after this earthquake is that the routes that the UN uses to bring supplies through this crossing into Syria have been damaged. They are not allowed to use the other seven from Turkey.

SUMMER: You mentioned that people are caught in the middle here. And it makes me wonder, as you were talking to the people there, what did they tell you they needed?

Sherlock: Well, we drove to Jenders Town. There were some places still standing there, but there were also dozens of other buildings that had been turned into ruins. Once, a woman named Koussa Muhammad approached us. I asked her what happened to her house in the earthquake.

Koussa Mohammed: (speaking Arabic).

Sherlock: You say it’s destroyed and ask if we’ve been of any help. I ask her what she needs.

Mohammed: (speaking Arabic).

Sherlock: She says things to keep her warm in the cold winter, medicines, everything. And the little boy bangs around, everything. The head of the local council there told me, you know, if the international community sends aid, like a better mechanism to get people out of the rubble, he thinks more people will be alive now. He now thinks it is too late. Perhaps it is too late to save those who are still trapped. But there are no basics to live. He says people have started fighting even over just one glass of drinking water.

Summer: Oh, my God. This sounds awful to the people out there. When you looked around, how bad was it?

Sherlock: You know, the devastation is colossal. Entire neighborhoods have been destroyed. So far we have been told that 850 dead have been found. We met Zakaria Taba, who lost his father, wife, and two-year-old boy, Abdulhadi, in the earthquake.

Zakaria Taba: (through interpreter) Last night I held him in my arms and slept with him. In the morning I found him dead in his bed.

Sherlock: He seemed really stunned. He said, like many of the people we met there, that he still can’t believe what happened.

SUMMER: This is NPR’s Ruth Sherlock talking about her trip to the earthquake zone in Syria. Ruth, thank you for sharing these stories.

Sherlock: Thank you very much.

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