Shirin Yaseen from the Workplace of the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-Basic visited northwestern Syria as a part of an interagency mission to evaluate the state of affairs there.

“On the day we visited Jindairis in northern Syria, one of many areas most affected by the February earthquake, the climate circumstances have been very dangerous. A cellular medical clinic housed in a tent was lifted off the bottom by excessive winds scattering provides and medical devices.

The goals of the kids on this camp are easy. One instructed me that she wants glasses, one other first rate sneakers so she will stroll the camp’s unpaved roads. A younger woman, Ahlam, instructed me all she simply needed was to return to high school. A mom requested for a wheelchair for her 20-year-old daughter. 

Earthquake expertise

In one other camp, in Idleb, referred to as Kammonah I met Yazi Khaled Al-Abdullah whose struggling displays the expertise of lots of of 1000’s of people that have been made homeless because of the earthquake. 

She instructed me how at 4 o’clock within the morning she felt shaking however didn’t know what was taking place. Her youngsters instructed her to not be afraid and after all of them left their home it collapsed. It was wet and so they have been shivering from chilly, however didn’t know what to do or the place to go.

They ended up at Kammonah camp and have been suggested to enroll in a shelter. A month after the quake they’re nonetheless dwelling in a tent with two different households. 

Yazi Khaled Al-Abdullah instructed me that she likes to cook dinner however doesn’t have pots or a fuel range. Generally ready meals, often rice, is offered, however she has diabetes, so is just not getting the diet that she wants.

She and her household are determined to return residence even when which means dwelling a really primary life. She used an Arabic expression which says that even when they’ve solely dust to eat, they nonetheless need to return to their hometown.

Her household left Sinjar eight years in the past due to the struggle in Syria and hung out right here and there. She instructed me her son and husband have been working their land and tending sheep after they have been killed by a aircraft. In her phrases, they’ve develop into martyrs.

I additionally met Mazyad Abdul Majeed Al-Zayed, who runs the Ajnadayn camp in Jindairis and who himself is a sufferer of the earthquake. 

He defined the troublesome circumstances through which the camp residents stay, because of a scarcity of every thing, together with tents. Cellular clinics function within the space, however they lack drugs and are available solely sporadically. 

He stated the camp is depressing and that he didn’t carry his household right here as he couldn’t bear to see them stay in such circumstances.

Later I visited tents arrange reverse the Al-Rafa Specialised Hospital in Jindairis, which housed cellular clinics, together with one for kids and one for ladies.

Sufferers and guests are acquired each day in these clinics, which have been established a number of days after the earthquake. 

The hospital is surrounded by destroyed buildings, and the medical workers stay and work in the identical circumstances because the individuals they’re treating.

The medical system on this a part of Syria was overburdened even earlier than the earthquake, and now the medical workers is exhausted and tools is sort of fully damaged. 

Numerous individuals affected by the earthquake have sought refuge on this space in northwestern Syria. Many did so to flee the struggle which has been raging for 12 years now. 

A girl I spoke to stated she had no thought what her future would maintain having fled over a interval of 5 years from Saraqib to Afrin, which was bombed, after which to Jindairis.

I met and spoke to so many individuals together with younger unaccompanied youngsters who had been separated from their mother and father, whose lives had been upended by the struggle after which the earthquake.

However I additionally met individuals who had hope and optimism for a brighter future. I met diligent and caring help employees who accomplice the UN and who attempt daily to enhance the lives of these affected. 

In the meantime, the UN has launched a $400 million humanitarian enchantment, and continues to work with its companions to make sure that reduction provides attain essentially the most susceptible individuals.

Discover extra right here in regards to the work of the UN in Syria.