TURKEY Jesuit Provincial: from war to earthquake, Aleppo a ‘traumatized’ city

More than 10 days after the mainshock, three more people were pulled from the rubble. Confirmed victims exceed 41 thousand. From February 17 to 21, the prefect of the Department for Oriental Churches will visit the areas affected by the earthquake to bring the support of the Pope. The Jesuit provincial recounts the fear that people experience “everyday.”

Aleppo () – A 17-year-old teenager was rescued yesterday from the rubble in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey, 11 days after the devastating earthquake that shook the country and neighboring Syria, claiming more than 41,000 confirmed victims so far . At the time of the rescue, the young woman was conscious and she could close and open her eyes following the instructions of the medical teams. Also in Turkey, 261 hours after the main quake, two other men aged 26 and 34 were pulled alive from the rubble of a private hospital in Hatay. Tonight the arrival of the prefect of the Department for the Oriental Churches, Monsignor Claudio Gugerotti, is expected, who will officially visit both countries from February 17 to 21, to express the closeness of Pope Francis to the population and to the operators of Caritas and other agencies that They work on the front line in relief efforts. This activity is essential to alleviate suffering – says Fr. Michael after visiting the places affected by the earthquake – and “the fear that people experience on a daily basis”.

We offer below an excerpt from the Jesuit’s testimony:

I arrived in Aleppo on February 11 together with Fr. Mourad Abou Seif, Fr. Tony Homsy and Fr. Nawras Sammour. The p. Tony O’Riordan, Country Director for Syria, had preceded us for a few days and was already working to coordinate the Jesuit response in the midst of an emergency.

I expected to find in the city the same images that I had seen in Turkey: entire neighborhoods razed to the ground. But in Aleppo it is not the same. Some buildings have collapsed, they told me about 80, but next to them there are others that remained standing. However, a large number have been disabled because they are dangerous and people cannot enter. More than 100 teams of civil engineers work intensively to check the stability in each case and it is estimated that more than 8,000 will be declared unsafe and will have to be demolished.

What impresses me the most is the fear that the inhabitants of the city continue to feel. People are traumatized. They are scared and afraid to go home. Life in Aleppo has been very hard in these 12 years, due to the war, the enormous devastation and the lack of electricity and fuel to heat homes in a city where it is very cold in winter. There are few jobs available. In the last two years, inflation has been so strong that people cannot buy basic necessities. Many families do not eat red meat or poultry for several weeks. However, they managed to survive and looked forward to better days. Now this earthquake, or rather these earthquakes, have robbed you of that miserable hope. It’s awful.

When the first quake struck, around 5am, people fled their homes and gathered in the freezing rain in public squares. Churches and mosques opened their doors to welcome thousands of people who had been left out in the open. Since February 6, the St. Elias Greek Orthodox Church has welcomed several hundred people. The classrooms are heated and generators provide electricity. The church offers three meals a day to all the people it hosts, whether they are Christians or Muslims. The mother of one of our Jesuits, who spent six days there, told me that it was very comforting to be with other people, in a place where there was light and warmth. Many local associations are providing emergency aid and receiving donations even from other parts of Syria. I visited Mons. Antoine Audo, Chaldean bishop, on Sunday, February 12, after mass in his cathedral. The building suffered only minor and easily repairable damage.

At first glance, the emergency response seems adequate. However, this is a medium-term crisis that requires shelter for thousands of people, and in a city that is already bearing the burden of a long-term crisis. The Jesuit Refugees Service (JRS) is preparing a response based on this approach. In many places where it is present, it is already fully operational: in Hullok, Sahour and Midan (st Wartan) free basic health care is offered, and in Zakhour child-oriented activities will resume shortly. These initiatives will also help children recover from the terrible shock of the earthquake. In coordination with the Syrian Red Crescent, the possibility of strengthening the medical service to include an increasing number of people is being studied. JRS also has in mind a program to assess the needs and vulnerability of eight emergency reception centers in the neighborhoods where the activists already operate, in order to better organize the services that will be provided in the near future.

I left Aleppo truly impressed by the courage of my Jesuit brothers and by the work carried out by JRS in an extremely difficult situation. With a workforce of around 140 operators in Aleppo, they have enough capacity to carry out such work. In Homs the Jesuits had already begun to help many people who had fled Aleppo and were seeking refuge, many of them with friends or relatives. The operators organized the distribution of blankets and a hot meal. The first day they cooked and distributed 70 rations. In the last days the number increased to 350. In Homs we also organize activities with the young people; At this moment about a thousand young people up to the age of 18 participate in catechetical schools, to which must be added 400 university students who come to receive religious formation once a week, and about 170 who teach catechism.

Many young people are tidying up clothes and blankets, others are doing the shopping or preparing food in our kitchen, under the supervision of the community cook. Everyone is happy to be able to collaborate in some way. It is wonderful to see how, after this calamity, entire communities have come together to support each other, some offering blankets, others clothing, others bringing food to share. People who have little or nothing, and who give to others who have even less.

* Provincial of the Jesuits of the Near East and the Maghreb

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