SYRIA Vicar of Anatolia: not silence, but solidarity in the ‘earthquake tragedy’

After coordinating the interventions from Italy, Bishop Bizzeti leaves today for the areas affected by the earthquake in Turkey. He fears that the tragedy will be forgotten “soon”, when the immediate and future needs are “enormous”. The intervention of the Church and Caritas. The problem of the psychological aspect “which is too often underestimated.”

Milan () – “We must not allow silence to fall on the tragedy of the earthquake.” The Vicar of Anatolia, Msgr. Paolo Bizzeti, confirmed to his fear that, after an initial phase of great media attention and emotional participation of international public opinion, the drama that hit Turkey and Syria will “soon” be forgotten. The prelate, who is currently heading to Istanbul after coordinating first aid operations from Italy for the last two weeks, sees “the risk, as history teaches us, that once the emotional wave has passed, attention and interest also wane. “We are already on the sixth page of the news,” he stressed, “and they only stop in exceptional aspects, such as a rescue after several days. It’s okay, they are miracles, but it is the situation of the rest of the population, of the survivors , the one we must contemplate. This is the priority, on which we have to keep our attention high.”

Two weeks after the earthquake on February 6, rescue teams in Turkey have stopped searching for survivors and only a few teams remain active in the hardest-hit provinces of Kahramanmaras and Hatay. The updated balance speaks of more than 46,000 deaths, of which almost 41,000 in Turkey alone, while the figure of 50,000 victims that WHO experts estimated last week is approaching. Today, the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, visited the affected areas with an aid package of more than 100 million euros, a drop in the endless sea of ​​needs.

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay reported that at least 105,000 buildings collapsed or were damaged by the main 7.8-magnitude quake and more than 6,000 aftershocks, including a 6.6-magnitude one over the weekend. The latest “miraculous” rescue of a couple from a ruined building in Antioquia occurred on February 18, almost 300 hours after the dramatic night that marked the country’s recent history. Now they are thinking about reconstruction, but conflicting interests on the world stage, especially President Bashar al-Assad’s Syria, have a bearing on sending aid.

The work of the Church and Caritas in Turkey continues, while there is still no water for bathing, there is no electricity in some areas, entire villages remain isolated and the risk of a cholera epidemic is growing. The Vicariate of Anatolia is working on three fronts: in Iskenderun, Fr. Antuan Ilgit Sj., together with the director of Caritas Anatolia, John Farhad Sadredin, takes care of the people living in the episcopate; in Istanbul, the first reconstruction projects are being prepared, setting targets for the coming months, while the fundraising campaign continues. “We have to think,” says Monsignor Bizzeti, “about how to restore basic services, drinking water and bathing water, guarantee regular meals… we are still in the middle of the emergency phase.”

The catastrophe is of such proportions,” Monsignor Bizzeti admitted, “that even with the goodwill of everyone, from the government to rescuers and volunteers, it will take weeks just to get the pipeline system back on its feet” to “Then we have to think about beds and accommodation for the evacuees, because many are still sleeping in their cars” because the houses are uninhabitable or there is a strong fear of returning while the earth continues to shake. As for the water, ” we collect it from the sea and try to desalinate it: we do what we can, but the needs are enormous.”

There is a last aspect, the psychological one, which “often tends to be underestimated” when interventions focus solely on material needs. “There is enormous and widespread psychological discomfort among the population,” confirmed the vicar of Anatolia, fear “has not disappeared and the questions about the tragedy are many and remain unanswered. People even question their faith, everything the world feels provoked”, but there is also the other side of the coin, represented by “general solidarity, mutual aid regardless of ethnicity or religious beliefs, a commendable contest of generosity”, he concludes, “which is a reason for great hope.”

IN SUPPORT OF THE INITIATIVES IN FAVOR OF THE EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS CARRIED OUT BY THE APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF ANATOLIA AND THE CUSTODY OF THE HOLY LAND, THE PIME FOUNDATION HAS OPENED A FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN. CLICK HERE TO KNOW YOUR TYPE AND TO CONTRIBUTE.