Syria: in Jandairis, the survivors camp in the ruins

Since the earthquake destroyed her home in northwestern Syria, Suzanne Abdallah, a teacher, has been camping with nine other members of her family in a small truck, a stone's throw from her lost home

Syria: in Jandairis, the survivors camp in the ruins

Since the earthquake destroyed her home in northwestern Syria, Suzanne Abdallah, a teacher, has been camping with nine other members of her family in a small truck, a stone's throw from her lost home.

"Ten of us pile into this truck. We sleep sitting up," said the 42-year-old woman, her head wrapped in a wool scarf to protect herself from the biting cold.

The earthquake that shook Turkey and Syria on February 6, killing more than 40,000 people, devastated the small town of Jandairis, on the Turkish border.

Suzanne Abdallah found no other refuge than her father-in-law's truck, installed in the middle of the ruins in a street where almost no building remained standing.

Inside, seven children -- his own and those of his sister-in-law -- are having breakfast: jam, curds and olives.

Suzanne's 14-month-old baby sleeps in a makeshift hammock she made with a blanket hanging from the ceiling.

"Our situation is very difficult, especially since I have a baby," says Suzanne Abdallah. "We woke up in the morning and his hand was numb from the cold, I put him in the sun to warm him up."

"We need a roof, we need help for these little children," she adds.

On the roof of the truck, the family piled up mattresses and blankets.

Jandairis paid a heavy price for the quake: rescuers pulled more than 500 bodies from the rubble. The earthquake killed more than 3,600 people across Syria, according to a still provisional report.

Up to 5.3 million people risk ending up on the streets in Syria after the deadly earthquake, warned a senior UN official a few days after the earthquake which killed a total of more than 40,000 people, largely in neighboring Turkey.

-Under the olive trees-

At the other end of town, Abdel Rahman Haji Ahmad, a 47-year-old retired civil servant, erected a large tent with his neighbors in front of the ruins of their homes.

The women and children sleep there at night, while the men stay outside.

"There is no water, no electricity, no hygiene. The situation is catastrophic throughout the city," says this man with the salt and pepper beard.

Of her house, only a multicolored rug and a blanket are left hanging in the ruins.

In the hastily erected makeshift tent with tarps and blankets, in an alleyway with mounds of rubble, the man hugs his daughter, surrounded by other neighborhood children.

"We don't think about the future. All we want are tarpaulins to set up two new tents, and then we'll see," he said.

In the disaster areas, many families are still sleeping in their cars. Others have taken refuge in schools or mosques, or even sleep under the stars under the olive trees.

Kawthar al-Chaqih chose to go to a reception center on the outskirts of Jandairis with her children and grandchildren.

The 63-year-old woman was first forced to leave her home in Homs, a city in central Syria, due to fierce fighting between rebels and Bashar al-Assad's regime in 2012.

A large part of the inhabitants of northwestern Syria, under the control of the rebel formations, are displaced people who arrived from other regions of the country as the regime regained control.

In one of the white tents that line up among the olive trees, she arranges the blankets and mattresses on the floor.

"We don't know where to go, we stay here in the cold", confides this woman who says she slept in the street the first days after the earthquake.

"The situation is unbearable, we don't know what to do. We don't have enough to buy a bottle of water," she says, her features drawn.

"We have nothing left but divine mercy."

02/16/2023 17:23:45 -         Jandairis (Syrie) (AFP) -         © 2023 AFP