Paint and tears: northwest Syria commemorates the 2023 earthquake | Türkiye and Syria earthquake

JENDIRES, NORTHWEST SYRIA – On the night of February 5, people across northwest Syria stayed awake all night, until 4:30 a.m., before they could close their eyes and sleep, reassured that the memory of last year's earthquakes had passed without them. To somehow cause another devastating event. earthquake.

The warning was not based on a scientific warning, but rather on the fear of a repeat of the disaster that killed and injured thousands of people and continues to displace tens of thousands more in one way or another.

From the north of Aleppo Governorate to the west and south of Idlib, the effects of the earthquakes are still visible in the cracked buildings and camps filled with tents of people who lost their homes amid war, poverty, and the decline in humanitarian aid.

Only rubble was removed from the streets.

Jendris, one year later

Early in the morning of February 6, people began gathering at a fair on the outskirts of Jindires, one of the worst-hit areas. Among them were many members of the White Helmets, known as the Syrian Civil Defense, who worked tirelessly. To save people from the destruction caused by earthquakes.

Syrian Civil Defense Director Raed Al-Saleh speaks on the first anniversary of the earthquakes [Ali Haj Suleiman/Al Jazeera]

They were there to celebrate the first anniversary of the earthquakes with a public event and exhibition.

They spoke to the press about what the earthquakes had done to a region whose infrastructure had already been destroyed by years of war and where a severe shortage of emergency equipment had hampered emergency response.

“There was a lack of machinery, and there were no international teams or immediate aid to help us respond to the disaster,” Hamed Qatini, the White Helmets’ media official, told Al Jazeera.

Qatini added that although they used all the equipment available to them, they did not have enough to cover the widespread destruction. The long delay in any aid reaching northwest Syria has caused further hardship for an already traumatized population.

Pictures of loss

As soon as Fatima Hamoudi entered the exhibition, her tears began to flow. The 50-year-old woman lost her son Mohammed, his wife and his daughter during the earthquakes. His five-year-old son, also named Mohammed, was the only survivor.

A painting depicting the suffering of the people of northern Syria as a result of earthquakes [Ali Haj Suleiman/Al Jazeera]

“I knew I lost him as soon as I heard about the earthquake,” said Hamoudi, who was in Turkey at the time and had spoken to her son by phone the previous evening.

As soon as she heard about the earthquake, she tried in vain to contact the family.

Hamoudi said: “He remained under the rubble for a whole day,” noting that she was unable to say goodbye to him, and that it took six months for her to return to Syria, where she lives today, to take care of her grandson.

Hamoudi walked around the exhibition, looking sadly at the pictures of destruction.

Next to the paintings representing the work of the White Helmets stood the painter Gulestan Bozo, who said that her paintings express gratitude.

“I tried to add hope to my drawings,” she said.

She was in the nearby city of Afrin when the earthquakes struck, and over the past months, she has used her art to help those affected and taught drawing and music to children orphaned in the disaster.

Visitors view a map and documents about the disaster during the exhibition [Ali Haj Suleiman/Al Jazeera]

“We are still working on starting other educational projects in the coming months,” Pozo said.

“I want to revive hope and tell survivors that overcoming disaster is possible.”

Murals on destroyed walls

About an hour's drive from Jindires, in the Malind region, west of Idlib, artistic events are also being held to commemorate what struck the region a year ago.

But here, colors are splashed across the damaged walls that still stand, perhaps as a message of hope.

“The earthquake left a huge shock,” graffiti artist Salam Al-Hamid told Al Jazeera. “We haven't forgotten what happened yet.”

During the past few days, Al-Hamid and her fellow painters in the “Brush of Hope” group visited a number of the most affected cities and towns in the countryside of Idlib Governorate.

They painted murals depicting the disaster and the White Helmets rescuing people trapped under the rubble.

A mural showing the White Helmets rescuing a girl from under the rubble after the 2023 earthquakes in northwestern Syria [Ali Haj Suleiman/Al Jazeera]

Al-Hamid said: “Our drawings were related to the suffering and pain of people, especially those who were stuck under the rubble and were praying for life but were buried and died while waiting for help,” referring to more than 4,500 people killed by the bombing. Earthquakes.

“The other murals are about resilience, patience and loss.”

Destruction, death, and devastation are something the people of the northwest are accustomed to, the last region in Syria controlled by opposition forces, after 13 years of war and continuous bombing by government forces and their ally, Russia.

But the earthquakes were unlike any other disaster Syria had witnessed in its modern history, leaving shock and fear so profound that they remain with them today.

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