Rebuilding from Rubble: A PIN System Creates Jobs for Post-Earthquake Reconstruction in Syria – Syrian Arab Republic

The dust settled. Rescue operations stopped long ago. The initial shock of the earthquake is starting to wear off as people across northwest Syria look to the future.

Two months have passed since the earthquake and while emergency needs remain high, PIN is implementing a cash-for-work program to facilitate the first step towards reconstruction and recovery. Funded by USAID’s Office of Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) and Stichting Vluchteling (Dutch Refugee Foundation), this project is hiring out-of-work residents in earthquake-affected communities to begin removing rubble and debris.

In the earthquake-stricken areas of northwestern Syria, PIN is creating jobs while at the same time providing the tools and equipment needed for the first phase of reconstruction.

From refuge to ruin

Salqin, five kilometers from the Turkish border and surrounded by olive groves and fruit trees, was once a peaceful farming town before the war broke out. It was soon overwhelmed by successive waves of displaced Syrians who sought the relative safety of this sleepy village, which had managed to escape the airstrikes and shelling that devastated countless neighborhoods in northwest Syria.

As a result of this rapid and informal urbanization, poorly constructed buildings sprang up to accommodate the tens of thousands of new residents. By the end of last year, Salqin had a population of 200,000 – more than double its pre-war population. Salqin has become a sprawling jungle of hastily built apartment buildings to house displaced Syrians from all over the country. However, the appearance of many unauthorized multi-storey buildings led to serious consequences in the early hours of February 6th.

The earthquake that struck Turkey and northwest Syria that night destroyed nearly a hundred of these new apartment buildings, killing a thousand people in the process.

Ammar, a resident of Salqin, said, “No one thought something like this would happen. We felt so much shaking, left and right. We thought it was Judgment Day. I hugged my pregnant wife and my daughters because I thought we were all going to die. When I hugged them, rubble started falling on my back and head.” My wife had a broken arm, a dislocated shoulder, and a head injury. One of my daughters was injured, too.”

A few hours later, the sun rose and revealed the extent of the destruction. Amar lost 34 of his relatives in the earthquake that night.

Many buildings were completely destroyed or severely damaged; Many of them are now marked as ‘to be evacuated’. Although some buildings appear to still be standing, the internal structure and columns are so badly damaged and weakened that they need to be demolished.”

Two months after the earthquake, Salqin is still a damaged and battered husk of its old body. Psychological scars will take time to heal, too.

“We don’t know how things will develop,” Ammar said. “Women and children are crying constantly even if there are no aftershocks.”

recovery path

While the emotional and physical trauma after an earthquake will be difficult to repair, removing the wreckage is one of the first concrete steps toward recovery. Amar, who had found work in the region’s thriving agricultural sector, stopped working as job opportunities began to vanish as a result of the war. After the earthquake, he signed up for the cash-for-work PIN project.

I work in clearing and removing rubble. The destruction can hardly be described as much, but we help people here,” he said. “After the earthquake, I volunteered to clear rubble in my neighborhood. Our mission is very important, as many neighborhoods in this city are narrow with winding staircases everywhere instead of flat streets. We have to collect the rubble so it can be loaded and moved to open up the streets again.”

Hundreds of residents like Ammar in northwest Syria are now working under the PIN Rubble Clearance Project, to clear their towns of rubble brick by brick. Their hard work will begin the arduous process of reconstruction and recovery in northwest Syria.

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