The death toll has continued to grow since earthquakes began to shake the Anatolian plateau shared between Turkey and Syria overnight from Sunday to Monday. This Thursday at noon, a new official report recorded at least 17,500 deaths, including more than 14,000 in Turkey and more than 3,000 on the Syrian side. A collective disaster whose statistics should not hide personal and family tragedies. The one that has just turned the life of Abdulrahman Ali al-Mahmoud and his family upside down is a particularly telling example. In fact, this Syrian has lost 20 of his family members in the cataclysm.
“I have not had time”
Abdulrahman Ali al-Mahmoud lives in Jandaris, in Afrin province in northwestern Syria, near the Turkish epicenter of the earthquakes. He’s still there, with his two-and-a-half-year-old little girl, her only remaining link to his family almost completely decimated. He was thrown into the tent where they now take refuge that he told the story of his drama in front of the cameras.
“At the time of the earthquake I was in the bathroom,” he first recalled. “I opened the door to get my daughters and my family out, get them out but I didn’t have time… We were stuck and the roof fell on us,” she said. “My youngest daughter died in my arms, my wife by my side… only my two-year-old daughter survived.”
According to an estimate provided by the WHO, 23 million people are exposed to the consequences of earthquakes. And the cold, snow and the deleterious political situation in Syria further complicate the work of relief workers and the living conditions of survivors.
Source: BFM TV
