The Syrian White Helmets no longer have any hope of finding survivors under the rubble and believe that many lives have been lost due to delays in the arrival of aid. Ammar Alselmo, founder of this civil protection organization, said TSF the frustration felt by the rescue teams in not being able to respond to all the needs and requests for help and regrets the initial silence of the United Nations.
The official now recalls that Syria will continue to need help. The needs are more than many in a country already destroyed by war and Ammar Alselmo makes an appeal. Syrians need almost everything.
“Now we are recovering corpses. There are families that disappeared, children without a father, without a mother. There are 40,000 displaced, 11,000 injured. Hospitals were affected, 40% of schools were affected. We must rebuild, we need medical supplies.” and assistance to the wounded. We need support vehicles from the White Helmets to repair the infrastructure, we need shelter and food for the people. We have to recover, life goes on,” she told the TSF Ammar Alselmo.
After that, Alselmo argues that the international community must press for a political solution to be found for Syria. Efforts continue for now, but since day one there have been many difficulties.
“From the beginning, the White Helmets team responded, but it encountered many challenges. The connections, the lack of equipment, vehicles, equipment… It’s that we are only two thousand,” explained the founder of the White Helmets of Syria.
Alone, the Syrians could not answer all the cries for help.
“We asked the international community to send rescue teams, equipment and vehicles because we thought that without it we would lose lives. We heard voices under the rubble, families asking for help, but unfortunately we have limited capacity,” he revealed.
The UN, according to Amar Alselmo, took its time and for the first three days did not even contact the White Helmets.
“They should because we are the only organization dealing with rescue operations. It’s a natural disaster, so they should contact us to ask what we needed. People were dying under the rubble without it being done. Everything for them, so they had the responsibility to respond quickly”, stressed Amar Alselmo.
UN aid arrived three days after the earthquake in a humanitarian convoy.
“These vehicles carried hygiene kits. What were the people under the rubble going to do with the hygiene kits?” asks the founder of the Syrian White Helmets.
Source: TSF
