The impacts of the earthquake that shook Northwest Syria and Southern Turkey are being felt all the way in Alabama. The University of Alabama will host a joint-departmental conference at the Gorgas Library about the humanitarian impacts of the earthquake. The discussion will focus on relief efforts to the Syrian and Turkish communities. Dr. Noor Aswad is one of the speakers at the event. She says that many Alabamians are from the region.
“Sometimes it does seem so far removed and we often think why should we even care about others, but I think the reason was that we saw, as a college, we had to say something,” said Aswad. “We have many students who are from this region. We have faculty from that region. We thought that it was important for us to convene to have a space to talk about what has happened.”
Aswad said that Syrians are one of the most vulnerable populations in the world. She said that after facing war for the last 10 years, many Syrians already had limited access to water and electricity. Aswad argues that current relief efforts in the region controlled by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are lacking.
“The UN has failed those who died and those who are displaced because of the earthquake,” she said. “The UN has been asking permission for the Assad regime to allow aid in. By delaying aid, people were unable to get families out of the rubble, the cement.”
The United Nations under-secretary-General for humanitarian affairs visited the Turkish-Syrian border Sunday and acknowledged in a statement to the Associated Press that Syrians have been left “looking for international help that hasn’t arrived." Aid convoys face many hurdles accessing the rebel enclave of northwestern Syria that largely depends on outside aid for survival. Aswad believes even after President Assad allowed aid into the region, he redirected some for non-humanitarian purposes.
“The regime has already been killing its own people. That’s the irony of the UN asking the Syrian Regime for permission to allow aid in, because the Syrian regime does not have the people's best interests at heart. This regime is going to use that aid for its own benefit,” said Aswad.
To make matters worse, officials reported yesterday that a magnitude 5.6 earthquake shook southern Turkey. It caused some damaged buildings to collapse and killed at least one person while injuring over a hundred. Monday's quake came three weeks after the original magnitude 7.8 earthquake that devastated southern Turkey and northern Syria earlier this month.
The humanitarian conference on the Turkey and Syrian earthquakes will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Yellowhammer room in Gorgas Library.
