Devastated by earthquake, Syrians in rebel-held region struggle for relief aid

Over a week after the earthquake battered Syria and Turkey, the opposition-held town of Jindires in northwest Syria struggles as international aid has yet to come in.

Aid agencies and governments stepped up a scramble to send help to parts of Turkey and Syria devastated by an earthquake, but a week after the disaster many complained they still were struggling to meet basic needs, like finding shelter from the bitter cold.

The situation was particularly desperate in Syria, where a 12-year civil war has complicated relief efforts and meant days of wrangling over how to even move aid into the country, let alone distribute it.

Some people who lost their homes said they have received nothing.
Mahmoud Haffar, head of the local council in Jinderis, says that locals have been able to scrounge up about 2,500 tents so far, but some 1,500 families still remain without shelter — as nighttime temperatures fall to around minus 4 degrees Celsius (26 degrees Fahrenheit).

All of the aid has come from local partners says Haffar - none of it from the United Nations.

The United Nations announced a deal with Damascus to deliver U.N. aid through two more border crossings from Turkey to rebel-held areas of northwest Syria — but the needs remain enormous.

Ibrahim Ibrahim is sifting through the rubble to recover any important documents he could find. He is living in one room with 35 others on the outskirts of town.

But with little heating and proper shelter, people are struggling with the cold temperatures sleeping on the streets or even cramming into a room.

“We desperately need tents. We can stand the cold, no problem, we can sleep anywhere no problem but these women, children and injured who we took out from under the rubble who might be bruised etc. I just dropped my kids off (at) the hospital, their whole body is all blue," he says.

Until now, the U.N. has only been allowed to deliver aid to the area through a single border crossing with Turkey, or via government territory, which presents its own logistical and political challenges.
The United Nations said Monday that President Bashar Assad of Syria had agreed to open two new crossing points from Turkey to his country’s rebel-held northwest.

The crossings at Bab al-Salameh and Al Raée are to be opened for an initial period of three months.

In Syria, the toll in the northwestern rebel-held region has passed 2,200, according to the rescue group known as the White Helmets.

Over 1,400 people have died in government-held areas, according to the Syrian Health Ministry.

The toll is nearly certain to rise as search teams turn up more bodies — and the window for finding survivors was closing.

In the town of Afrin, 190 families have been housed on the floor of a basketball court.

Families slept on the floor using mattresses used for training and donated by locals.

The families separated from one another using blankets, hanging on columns or sports bars.

Sabah el Khodr says she and her two toddlers have been sick for the last 9 days.

Local officials said the shelter is temporary until new tents are secured. “All my kids are sick, come and see. It has been a week from the god forsaken day that happened to us they have been sick. I just came from the hospital. We also have a martyr (lost someone). Our situation is very bad," she said.

Others were lucky and managed to secure a spot in one of the 45 temporary camp encampments created by local NGOs.

Side by side with people living in their trucks and cars, Abdelmajid Al Shawi has been in this camp for the last three days waiting for the world to heed the Syrian people's call, but they have yet to come.

“We want our voice to reach the whole world but where is the aid?" he said."

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