ATAREB, Syria (AP) — After years of war, residents of areas in northwest Syria struck by a massive earthquake are grappling with their new and worsening…
Almost one week after the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck northern Syria and neighboring Turkey, the U.N. has acknowledged an international failure to help Syrian quake victims.Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Calgary Herald, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.
Syrians were doing what they have honed over years of crises: relying on themselves to pick up the pieces and move on. Many are internally displaced from the ongoing conflict and live in crowded tent settlements or buildings weakened by past bombings. The quake killed over 2,000 people in the area, and displaced many more for a second time, forcing some to sleep under olive groves in the frigid winter weather.Article content
Northwest Syria relies almost entirely on aid for survival, but post-quake international assistance has been slow to reach the area. The first U.N. convoy to reach the area from Turkey was on Thursday, three days after the earthquake. Critics of the government of President Bashar Assad say that aid funneled through government-held areas in Syria faces bureaucracy and the risk that authorities will misappropriate or divert the aid to support people close to the government.
“We are trying to tell everyone, put politics aside. This is the time to unite behind the common effort to support the Syrian people,” Geir Pedersen, the U.N. special envoy for Syria, who landed in Damascus Sunday, told reporters.
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