Jenderes… the most affected and most neglected city in the ordeal of the earthquake

Aso – Bara’a Mohammed

Jenderes is considered one of the most affected towns in northern Syria as a result of the violent earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey on February 6, and the number of victims exceeded hundreds, in addition to thousands of wounded.

According to the numbers monitored in Jenderes, the number of collapsed buildings reached more than 214, except for the damaged buildings that have become unfit for habitation.

Witnesses in Jenderes said that the people of Janderis, especially the Kurds, were left to face their fate on their own without providing aid equivalent to the scale of the disaster there.

Amina Masto, a media activist, said that more than three-quarters of the town of Jenderes has been completely destroyed, and the percentage of Kurdish victims is still inaccurate, as most of the bodies are under the rubble, and no one could rescue them.

Jenderes district belongs to the Kurdish-majority Afrin region, and Afrin was occupied by Turkey and the Syrian National Army in March 2018, where the people live, according to reports of international organizations, in difficult conditions and violations, while the occupation of Afrin resulted in the displacement of a large proportion of its people, and Turkey brought civilians from the other Syrian provinces and inhabited them in the homes of Afrin people, which was described as a process of demographic change that Turkey is carrying out against the Kurds in Syria.

Amina added to Aso News Network, during her talk about the disaster in Jenderes district, that since the first days of the earthquake, no rescue team or machine came to remove the rubble, “despite all the appeals to send machines to remove the rubble from those trapped under it in the town.”

And she continues, “The aid in Jenderes was limited to some young volunteers from Afrin and nearby villages, in an effort to provide a helping hand to those affected.”

Amina mentions that the volunteer work teams in Jenderes were able to remove about 200 bodies and save some families, but she reiterates that the aid was limited to the entry of some teams into the town, “I witnessed racial discrimination between the settlers and the Kurds from the area, as most of the support and aid included the settled families.” in the city.

“If they find out that the family is Kurdish, they will leave it to face its fate under the rubble without any help,” she says.

The people of the area and the surrounding villages continued to help those who remained under the rubble with their own hands and simple tools, says Amina, adding that the voices of their relatives and their calls were audible to them in the first three days of the earthquake, “but they disappeared on the fourth day.”

Amina wonders that construction machinery and equipment were present in the Jenderes area, to build apartments and buildings for settlers in the seized lands, before the earthquake disaster occurred, so where did they go during the earthquake (..)!

Humanitarian activist Hamrin Habash, a resident of Afrin, told Aso News Network that they launched humanitarian appeals to help the afflicted in Jenderes, and work to help remove rubble and save lives.”

“We were shocked that the machines were transferred from Afrin to other Turkish areas or close areas as Azaz.”

Hamrin says that Turkey took care of the disaster there and did not give any attention to the disaster in Syria, despite its responsibility, as Turkey occupies a part of the Syrian lands, and left this region, without help, until the border crossings were not opened for aid to reach Syria in the early days, “The Turkish side contributed to intimidating European and Arab rescue teams to try to obstruct their entry to the Syrian side, and to provide assistance in rescue operations.

The Jenderes region witnessed a great UN failure to send aid, as it was limited to some aid such as (food and tents) provided by charities, and the aid sent from the people of the region in Europe to Afrin.

Hamrin indicated that this simple aid was stolen by the armed factions of the Turkish occupation.

But the first relief, according to Hamrin’s description, to the city of Jenderes, was the sending of a convoy of aid provided by the (Barzani Charitable Association) provided by the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq, and she says, “Before the convoy entered Syria, half of it was confiscated by the Turkish government, then She imposed a $1,000 royalty on each truck entering Jenderes,” Hamrin said.

Hamrin stated that with the entry of the Barzani Charitable Association convoy, it was agreed that the members of the association would distribute aid to those affected, “but what happened the next day was the condition of the leader of the Suleiman Shah Division, nicknamed Abu Amsha, and his gunmen, to distribute the aid, as they brought in the displaced from camps near Jenderes such as Atma camp, and distributed to them.

Hamrin asserts that chaos and racism included the distribution mechanism. She says, during the first days of the earthquake, officials did not appear to help the people, but when the aid arrived, it was clear that the officials appeared!!

The people of Afrin and the surrounding areas, especially the town of Jenderes, suffer from a media blackout and the media are prevented from accessing it, in an attempt to hide the poor humanitarian conditions, especially the Kurdish citizens who clung to their lands and did not leave them.

In it, Kurdish citizens encounter all forms of injustice and racial discrimination, and harassment that sometimes leads to killing at the hands of the armed factions loyal to the Turkish occupation, and this appeared during the people’s reception of the Barzani Charity Association convoy, where the tears of the people were described as moments of joy over injustice for years, and this is what was expressed by many of the people reported through visual media that show how difficult it is for them to live under the dominance of the Syrian National Army factions and the Turkish occupation.

*The Photo is from the internet