One year on: northwest Syria still reeling from the earthquakes’ devastation

One year on, communities in northwest Syria are still struggling to recover from the devastating earthquakes that struck Türkiye’s southeastern provinces and Syria’s north in February 2023. A disaster that killed over 60,000 people and injured thousands more.

After the earthquakes, Goal teams were on the ground in Türkiye and Syria to provide immediate lifesaving aid. In the following months, Goalies delivered cash-based assistance to more than 210,000 people in northwest Syria. Enabling families who were made homeless by the earthquakes to buy food, clothing, and medicine. Families like Rafiq’s*.

Fortunate to Survive

“We lost everything overnight,” Rafiq says. “Our building, shaken to the core, suffered structural damage, and the walls of our apartment cracked. Suddenly, we found ourselves in the street, under heavy rain. Everything around us was collapsing, with rubble shooting from all directions as if it were doomsday. How we got out, we do not know,” he continues.

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Rafiq feels fortunate to have survived. Millions of people were awoken in the early hours of February 6th as the 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Türkiye and Syria. As communities searched for survivors under the rubble, a deadly 7.6-magnitude tremor followed just hours later.

Following 13 years of conflict, Rafiq was no stranger to being woken up at night with the ground beneath him shaking. However, the fear caused by the catastrophic earthquake ran deeper, says the 58-year-old father of eight.

“The horror we experienced that day was different from all of the fears we had endured due to the war and the constant shelling.”

When the tremors subsided, Rafiq and his family discovered the true impact of the disaster. They found themselves surrounded by news of death and destruction across Idleb and northern Aleppo.

Days of Darkness and Desperation

“We had thought the journey of displacement that the war engulfing our country had forced on us was the most difficult challenge of our lifetime. But February’s devastating earthquakes caught us off guard, bringing on a renewed wave of suffering,” continues Rafiq.

Before the earthquakes, one of the priorities of humanitarian organisations working in northwest Syria was to support people to move out of tents and into more dignified shelters that could offer better protection from the elements and help families be safe. However, the sudden growth in humanitarian needs caused by the earthquakes led many aid agencies to reallocate a significant portion of their limited resources to immediate lifesaving relief work, focusing on the supply of food and other basic needs aid.

“The days following the earthquake were the toughest. Everyone was distraught, wandering the streets in a state of shock and sadness for the loss of their loved ones and homes. We spent days and nights among the olive trees, lying on the cold branches that neither eased our loneliness nor warmed our bodies, with stray dogs roaming around us. There was little food available, no clean water to drink, and no shelter,” Rafiq adds.

Rafiq, his wife and three of their children have since taken refuge in a tent they installed near their home. They remain in constant fear that another earthquake will strike. They continue to visit their damaged flat to access household items, prepare meals, and keep warm during the coldest days. “We’re like hurried guests in our own home, going in and out just to borrow things,” Rafiq explains.

The injuries that Rafiq suffered in the disaster have also prevented him from finding a job.

“The disaster’s psychological effects still linger on, its horror embedded in the hearts and minds of myself, my wife, and my children – not to mention the impact it had on our very life and livelihoods,” Rafiq continues.

A Lifeline for Families

With support from EU Humanitarian Aid and other international institutions that fund Goal’s work, Goal teams have provided financial assistance to over 43,000 families affected by the earthquake in Northwest Syria. With direct cash support, people can choose how they meet their needs, purchasing the supplies their families need the most. Households like Rafiq’s have been prioritised for longer-term support, helping people who lost their homes cope with the immense challenges that life in a tent presents.

“The aid provided by Goal to earthquake survivors has helped us greatly,” Rafiq explains. He adds: “This cash enabled me to buy the medicines my wife and I need as well as make up for the shortfall in meeting our everyday expenses.”

Rafiq is thankful for the support but worries greatly about the uncertain future facing his family and how his community will ever be rebuilt. “The scale of the disaster we have been through, the rising prices in the markets, and the wide range of unmet needs in our region necessitate the continuation of this assistance.”

The earthquake’s aftermath has underscored the crucial role of flexible international humanitarian funding in providing immediate relief to families like Rafiq’s and to enable recovery. The experience of the humanitarian community over the past year highlights the need to supplement immediate relief with resilience-focused programmes, like long-term cash-based assistance, in equipping vulnerable people to prepare for and mitigate the impact of disasters, especially in fragile context like Northwest Syria. With the support of EU Humanitarian Aid and other generous donors, Goal is committed to ensuring this through our Crises to Resilience framework.

Goal teams have been working on the ground in Syria for over ten years, supporting vulnerable communities since the conflict began in 2012. Visit goal.ie/syria to learn more.

* The name of the individual featured in this story was changed to protect his identity.

About EU Humanitarian Aid: The European Union and its Member States are among the world’s leading donors of humanitarian aid. Through the Directorate General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations of the European Commission, the European Union helps millions of victims of conflict and disasters every year. Learn more at civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu.