One of the deadliest earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria at 7.8 magnitudes led to the death of more than fifty-three thousand and affected around twenty million Syrians and Turkish people directly. Rescuers from across the world struggled to rescue the victims of the earthquake from rubble and aid workers have been struggling to deal with a massive humanitarian crisis in Syria and Turkey. Definitely, Turkey is more affected with more deaths and damages than Syria by the earthquake but, according to several online sources, the victims of Syria, a state under worldwide economic sanctions driven by its violent repression of dissents, have been receiving less attention from the beginning of local and international support leading to concerns.
It is pertinently notable that it has taken longer for humanitarian aid to reach earthquake victims in rebel-held northern Syria than almost anywhere else in the affected areas of Turkey and Syria. Definitely, ad hoc governance, poor infrastructure and destroyed roads — along with several other causes —made the humanitarian aid delayed to Northern Syria. But a forgotten attitude of the world to Syria, its limited international linkage and several other causes led to global less focus on the earthquake victims of Syria compared to those of Turkey, which has more and effective international linkage. Also, the negligence of the Syrian government towards the inhabitants of the rebel-held areas where a humanitarian crisis was already underway before the earthquake caused less attention to them.
In both Turkey and Syria, at least 2.2 million people are now homeless and displaced due to the earthquake. But among the regions badly affected by the devastating earthquake, northwest Syria where, according to several sources including Foreign Policy, nearly 90 percent of the people needed humanitarian assistance prior to the earthquake is more vulnerable because of damages caused by the years-long civil war. The Turkey-Syria earthquake made humanitarian needs at their highest level in the region since the conflict in the country started almost 12 years ago between President Bashar al-Assad and rebels. More than 4.2 million people have been affected in Aleppo and around 3 million people have been affected in Idlib by the earthquake in the northwest region.
Definitely, the victims of the earthquake — no matter whether they are Syrians or Turkish people — need to be treated as victims. It is desired that steps are taken to provide support to the Syrian victims of the earthquake, along with the victims of Turkey. The positive aspect is that international organizations and many countries, which have troublesome relations with Syria, have sent humanitarian aid and the United States appreciably relaxed its economic sanctions on Syria for six months because of the earthquake. Also, it does matter whether the quake victims are in the rebel-held or government-held regions. Consequently, national and global efforts need to be strengthened to provide support in the rebel-held areas of Syria too.
Amir M Sayem
Chief Editor
Dhaka Opinion Magazine
