Anis manages an HI 22-member team of physiotherapists and psychosocial support experts in North Syria. He describes the response provided by HI.
As the official death toll rises by the hour, residents, often with their bare hands, continue to search for survivors in the rubble of thousands building brought down by the powerful earthquake and multiple aftershoks. The quake has brought down thousands of buildings and killed thousands of person | © HI
One week after the earthquake, we now feel safe. For days, we were terrified by the aftershocks. They were perhaps more terrifying than the first earthquake itself.
The following days after the disaster, we couldn’t sleep. We stayed at night in our cars, in the streets, because we were all afraid… There were fires in the street so that people can get warm… The aftershocks are still happening and the people are still afraid and shocked.
In my town, some buildings collapsed. 25 people died. A lot of cities around mine are much more affected.
I saw so many collapsed buildings in the cities around and so many people in the shelter camps. They need food, blankets, oil…. They need everything. Most of the people in the camps are women and children and older people. I do not know why we see so few men.
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We went to three shelter centres yesterday to check if there were injured people. We found some cases but the vast majority of freshly injured people are in hospitals. In camps, we met vulnerable and weak people like the elderly and children.
Most of the shelter camps consist of one collective tent and can gather dozens of families; the shelter camp is often only one huge tent. In one shelter, there was a safe space for children who were playing with old toys…
All these people leave their homes, they lost relatives…we can see the sadness in the eyes of children…
Every day there are new shelters, new people coming… We are visiting hospitals and new shelter centres every day to identify the needs… We work seven days a week…
At the hospitals, our staff started providing rehabilitation sessions and psychosocial support from the very first day of the emergency. A lot of patients need wheelchairs and physiotherapy exercises... It is difficult for the team because of the huge number of injured people… The people were under the collapsed buildings for hours, some for days… For a lot of them, the cases are very complicated.
To be honest, it is not the first time we see such a crisis. We have been under war for more than 10 years now… But we are now under a disaster that seems bigger than us. We are overwhelmed by the number of injured people.
On 25 April 2015, a terrible earthquake struck Nepal. 10 years later, Humanity & Inclusion looks back at an extraordinary emergency response and a commitment that continues to this day.
While thousands of disaster victims are being sheltered in improvised shelters and camps, Humanity & Inclusion's mobile teams are responding to the most urgent needs and supporting the most vulnerable.
Diary from Gaza by Mara Bernasconi, Humanity & Inclusion's Middle East Regional Advocacy Advisor
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ABOUT US
Humanity & Inclusion UK
Romero House,
55 Westminster Bridge Road,
London
SE1 7JB
UK registered charity no. 1082565
MORE INFORMATION
SEARCH
