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Earthquakes expose political and humanitarian challenges in Turkey and Syria
In a recent episode of GZERO World, the International Rescue Committee's President and CEO, David Miliband, sheds light on the immense challenges of delivering aid in the aftermath of the deadly earthquakes that rocked Turkey and Syria. With the northwest of Syria controlled by armed opposition groups, aid delivery remains a hurdle that needs to be overcome urgently.
Miliband highlights the compounded crises in Syria, with inadequate medical care, cholera outbreaks, freezing temperatures, and ongoing border skirmishes threatening the survival of the population. He notes, "Hope is hard to find if you live there."
The political repercussions of the earthquakes are already being felt in Turkey, with citizens demanding accountability for lax building standards and corrupt permit systems. Miliband draws parallels to the 1999 earthquake, which saw accusations of corruption and the ousting of the prime minister. He predicts that the government's response to the disaster will be a hot-button issue in the upcoming election.
But it's not just about politics. The migrant crisis is an urgent humanitarian issue, with Miliband emphasizing the need for fair and humane treatment of those who have been driven from their homes. As he puts it, "We need to fulfill legal as well as moral obligations."
Note: This interview appeared in a GZERO World episode on March 6, 2023: Challenge of survival/Problem of governance: Aid for Turkey & Syria
Northwest Syria's aid dilemma: the aftermath of devastating earthquakes
The two devastating earthquakes that hit Turkey near the Syrian border on February 6 have exacerbated the already-difficult challenge of getting humanitarian aid into a region plagued by conflict and political instability. In an interview with Ian Bremmer on GZERO World, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, David Miliband, explains how aid delivery remains a challenge in northwest Syria, which is controlled by armed opposition group.
Although two new cross-border points opened after the earthquake, the IRC hasn't seen an increase in aid flows.“It's still very tough to get aid across the border," says Miliband. Humanitarian assistance for northwest Syria needs to travel across the border with Turkey because aid sent directly to Damascus stays with President Bashar al-Assad's government. Miliband notes that the situation was already dire in the region before the earthquakes, and the disaster has only compounded the crisis in Syria, with a lack of adequate medical care, cholera outbreaks, and freezing temperatures posing major risks to the population.
The overall politics of the region, which is still recovering from the decade-long Syrian Civil War, also remain dire. Northwest Syria was a conflict zone as recently as January, and 150 civilians were killed last year in border skirmishes.
“If you live there, it's very hard for people to keep any hope at all,” says Miliband.
Watch the GZERO World episode: Challenge of survival/Problem of governance: Aid for Turkey & Syria
Challenge of survival/Problem of governance: Aid for Turkey & Syria
The recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria have highlighted the challenges of providing aid in a region plagued by conflict and political instability. In conversation with Ian Bremmer on GZERO World, the International Rescue Committee's President and CEO, David Miliband, explains that aid delivery remains a challenge, particularly in the northwest of Syria controlled by armed opposition groups.
The earthquake has compounded the ongoing crises in Syria, as lack of adequate medical care, cholera outbreaks, freezing temperatures, and continued border skirmishes pose major risks to the population. Miliband notes, “If you live there, it's very hard for people to keep any hope at all.”
The critical task now is to scale up the delivery of aid to those still desperately in need in Turkey and Syria.
The disaster is quickly becoming a political issue in Turkey, as people accuse the government of lax building standards and corrupt permit systems. Although Miliband is no expert in structural engineering, he brings up Turkey's recovery after a devasting earthquake in 1999, which was plagued with accusations of corruption and led to the outster of the prime minister. Miliband predicts that the earthquake response will influence Turkey's upcoming election, adding to the political heat.
The migrant crisis is also a complex and pressing issue, with Miliband emphasizing the need to “balance fairness with humanity and fulfill legal as well as moral obligations for people who have been driven from their homes.”
A young woman lies in hospital after reports of poisoning at an unspecified location in Iran in this still image from video from March 2, 2023.
Hard Numbers: Iranian schoolgirls poisoned, Macron declares Françafrique “over,” Biden tries to tackle fraud, a rare miracle in southern Turkey
17: The Iranian government says it’s investigating a spate of alleged poisonings of schoolgirls, with at least 17 hospitalized in Tehran and elsewhere this week, adding to the hundreds of girls hospitalized in recent months. Masih Alinejad, who recently appeared on GZERO World, says that many Iranians believe the Islamic Republic is behind the attacks and is using them to punish school girls who recently came out in droves to protest the government.
4: “The age of Francafrique is well over,” President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday as he began a four-nation tour to Gabon, Angola, the Republic of Congo, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Macron said he’ll continue to pull French troops from the region in the coming months after withdrawing soldiers from Mali and Burkina Faso last year.
1.6 billion: President Joe Biden on Thursday asked Congress to approve $1.6 billion to combat fraud related to pandemic relief programs. The White House faced mounting criticism after swindlers took advantage of its generous $5 trillion COVID-era stimulus.
23: Good news alert! Alex the dog was found alive under rubble in Hatay, Turkey, 23 days after a deadly earthquake decimated southern Turkey and northern Syria. Watching Alex lick the ear of his rescuer is a rare joy.Destroyed buildings in the aftermath of the deadly earthquake, in Antakya, Turkey February 19, 2023.
Hard Numbers: Turkey/Syria quake death toll, Modi ally’s biz empire crumbles, West Bank violence, AMLO believes in elves
50,000: The death toll of the Feb. 6 Turkey/Syria earthquakes topped 50,000 on Sunday. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is feeling the heat over allegedly corrupt practices that led to so many collapsed buildings on his watch ahead of the May 14 election.
145 billion: The industrial empire of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani lost $145 billion — 60% of its value — in the month following allegations of fraud by Hindenburg Research, a US-based short seller, which Adani virulently denies. The Adani Group has faced years of corruption allegations, but it remains to be seen if the longtime ally of PM Narendra Modi is too big to fail.
2/1: Violence ensued in the West Bank on Sunday after a Palestinian gunman killed two Israeli settlers. That sparked a retaliatory rampage by settlers on the village of Hawara that killed at least one Palestinian, bringing the West Bank to boiling point.
7 million: Did someone leave the wardrobe open?! Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, known as AMLO, tweeted a photo of what he claims is an “aluxe”, a mischievous woodland spirit from Mayan folklore requiring gifts to appease it. The tweet had 7 million views as of Monday morning and is not out of character for AMLO, who has long revered indigenous beliefs and culture.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with his daughter Kim Ju Ae at a banquet in Pyongyang, North Korea.
Hard Numbers: North Korea bans a name, US inflation stays warm, aid trucks cross into Syria, Ukrainians freeze sperm
0: The number of North Korean girls who are allowed to have the same name as Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un’s daughter Kim Ju-Ae is now, reportedly, zero. Young Ju Ae, who is thought to be around 11 years old, has recently been in the spotlight inspecting weapons with her dad and appearing on postage stamps.
6.4: Annual inflation in the US fell by just a tenth of a point in January, to 6.4%, disappointing expectations that price growth would ease further in the world’s largest economy.
10: A fleet of 10 UN humanitarian aid trucks crossed from Turkey into Syria on Tuesday via the Syrian side’s Bab al-Salam border post. This is the first time since 2020 that the Syrian government has opened the checkpoint to allow aid trucks into this part of the country, parts of which are held by opposition forces.
100: Since the Russian invasion, a clinic in Kyiv has frozen the sperm of about 100 Ukrainian soldiers. “It’s not scary to die,” one man told the AP, “but it’s scary when you don’t leave anyone behind.”
Photo composite of devastation in Turkey and Syria.
Hard Numbers: Turkey-Syria earthquake devastation
The death toll from Monday's earthquake in Turkey and Syria has now surpassed 20,000. Want to donate to help people in need? Consider these worthy causes: Ahbap Platform, Turkey Mozaik Foundation, Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children, UNICEF, Red Cross.
16: That’s how many unaccompanied babies have been flown from the southern Turkish city of Kahramanmaras to Ankara, the capital, after being rescued from the rubble. Presumably, most – if not all – are now orphans.
5,000: Lorries carrying aid entered northwestern Syria from Turkey on Thursday for the first time since the 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit the region. Still, Syria expert Charles Lister says these trucks contain enough to help just 5,000 people – at most – out of the more than 4 million Syrians in the northwest in need of assistance.
36: The European Union has sent a large delegation to the hardest-hit areas in Turkey, but so far EU rescuers have had success in rescuing just 36 people. The delegation also brought along 70 pups to search for survivors.
3,000: Roughly 3,000 White Helmet volunteers – a group of first respondents activated during Syria’s civil war – are combing through the rubble to find survivors in opposition-held northwestern Syria, where the death toll has already reached 1,930.
A woman reacts while embracing another person, near rubble following an earthquake in Hatay, Turkey.
Tragedy upon tragedy in war-torn Syria
Days after a devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit southern Turkey and northern Syria, the window for rescuing victims buried in the rubble is closing. Rescue efforts – and survival prospects – are being further challenged by freezing weather conditions.
The death toll has now surpassed 11,000 – and that number will certainly rise. Thousands remain missing, and nearly 400,000 have been moved to government shelters or hotels. Some 4 million Syrians in northern Syria alone were already displaced and relying on humanitarian support.
Tragically, this crisis compounds existing regional calamities, particularly for war-torn Syria, that make recovery efforts extremely difficult.
Tragedy compounds tragedy. For the people of northern Syria, the temblors bring yet more misery after a decade of war. Crucially, Idlib and Aleppo, central to the Assad regime’s strategy of retaking the country, have been subject to heavy shelling since late 2019. Before Monday’s tragedy, at least 3.3 million people in northwest Syria (out of 4.6 million) were food insecure. Meanwhile, a deadly cholera outbreak has also spread across the country in recent months.
Assad Sam Hanna, a Syrian activist who previously worked with Syria's “White Helmets,” says this week’s tragedy is even “more traumatic for the people who escaped the war where buildings used to collapse because of bombings.” He notes that a lot of those families resettled to southern Turkey, where they “felt they were on the safe side.”
Who’s offered aid? At least 45 countries have offered to help Turkey in its recovery efforts, including dispatching 27 teams to assist with search and rescue efforts. Conversely, just a handful of states – China, Russia, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates, and cash-strapped Lebanon – have offered support to Syria, most of which is controlled by President Bashar al-Assad, considered a pariah by the West.
Since Syria’s civil war erupted in 2011, Western countries have cut the country off from international markets and imposed measures that have obliterated local industries, causing widespread poverty. Without access or logistical connections in the region, it remains unclear whether – or how – Western states are going to – or can – help the Syrian people. Washington has pledged to help those on both sides of the border but will do so through “humanitarian partners,” not by working with Assad’s regime. Assad, meanwhile, rejects any involvement that isn’t coordinated with the central government in Damascus.
The struggle to deliver aid. Control of northwestern Syria is divided between Turkey and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a rebel group with connections to al-Qaida. Meanwhile, northeast Syria is held by a Kurdish-led group backed by the US and where most of the services are provided by NGOs. Simply put: There is no central government to enforce a coordinated response.
Making matters worse, the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, the only humanitarian artery linking Turkey and northwest Syria, has been damaged by the earthquake. That’s a big problem for the Syrian recovery effort, Hanna says, because “the only way [to deliver aid] is through the Turkish side.”
But even before the earthquake, deliveries through this safe passage had been hindered by cynical geopolitics. Consider that Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a key backer of the Assad regime, used its clout to force the closure of several humanitarian corridors, leaving Bab al-Hawa as the sole lifeline. Still, Russia recently threatened to block this route as well if the UN failed to coordinate aid programs with the Assad regime.
Retraumatization of refugees. Many people impacted by the earthquakes – on both sides of the border – had already been displaced by Syria’s civil war. While some fled to northwestern Syria from other parts of the country, around 3.6 million had resettled in Turkey since 2011. Gaziantep, the epicenter of Monday's quake, is home to around 500,000 Syrians.
Complicating matters further is the fact that anti-refugee sentiment has been on the rise in Turkey in recent years. In response to growing public concern over migration flows, Ankara had already capped at 20% the number of foreigners in some districts. Now, dealing with its own catastrophe, it will be even more difficult for Turkish authorities to accommodate a surge in Syrian migrants.
While those on the ground await political and humanitarian solutions that may never come, aid workers are racing against the clock as the prospects of finding more people alive grow bleak.