In the early hours of February 6, one of the worst disasters of the last 100 years woke people in southwestern Turkey and North-west Syria from their sleep. In Syria alone, the devastating earthquake claimed the lives of more than 8,500 people, nearly 8,000 buildings were completely or partially destroyed. The survivors, of whom at least 11,000 became homeless through the earthquake, were left devastated and without shelter.
Rapid aid for earthquake victims: Established infrastructure facilitates emergency response
In North-west Syria, the humanitarian situation was already critical before the disaster. The people living there, many of them displaced in their own country, are now left with nothing.
For many years, arche noVa has been active in the area marked by civil war and supports the population in close cooperation with local aid organizations. Part of our humanitarian aid is, among others, the distribution of water, food and hygiene items, which is why we have well-established organizational structures in this area. Thanks to these structures and the resulting proximity to the people, we were able to take emergency response shortly after the quake, despite the difficult access.
Four months of emergency aid for earthquake victims – our summary
Our initial activities focused on the parts of North-west Syria where the situation for the victims was particularly critical. Thanks to the efforts of our local partner organizations Bonyan and Takaful Al Sham, many affected people in these regions were quickly provided with basic necessities.
This exceptional situation demonstrated once again how valuable cooperation with local partners is for the quality of humanitarian aid. Their experience, local knowledge and access to relief goods enabled a quick and needs-based distribution. The local response teams used all their strength to hand out aid supplies and prepare tens of thousands of meals.
With the help of the donations received, we were able to support people in 71 rescue centers and camps in the area of Aleppo, Idlib and the rural regions of North-west Syria until April 30:
- 30,278 hot meals
- 30,800 bread packages
- 8,714 drinking water packages (6x 1.5 liters each)
- 4,023 food packages
- 4,533 blankets
- 903 hygiene kits
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Silence after the earthquake: Situation remains dramatic, victims fall into oblivion
Four months after the earthquake, the dimension of the disaster is becoming increasingly clear. People in North-west Syria are still in urgent need of humanitarian aid. At the same time, media attention is decreasing with each passing day – and with it, unfortunately, the willingness to donate to those affected. We want to continue helping and are grateful for every euro that benefits our response teams in North-west Syria.
“Many people in North-west Syria are scarred by the ongoing civil war, have experienced violence or had to flee. Having lost their possessions and possibly loved ones in the earthquake, they are suffering not only from poverty but also psychologically."
A little normality for the children of North-west Syria
The children of North-west Syria are suffering particularly from the fatal consequences of the earthquake. In the current situation, it is all the more important to give them a minimum of everyday structure and hope for the future.
Education can make an important contribution to this – but many Syrian children have not had access to it for years because of the ongoing civil war. In 2019, we therefore launched an educational program to help children in North-east Syria learn important basic skills.
With a new program, we now want to create a protected learning environment for hundreds of children aged 7 to 15 living in the earthquake-affected northwest of the country. The focus is on age-appropriate teaching in temporary learning centers as well as a psychosocial support program for the often severely traumatized children.
