Seven months have passed since several earthquakes of between 7.5 and 7.8 on the Richter scale struck the border area between Turkey and Syria, and the recovery in both countries has been different.

Although the death toll was higher in Turkey, with around 50,000 dead and 300,000 buildings destroyed according to Action Against Hunger, aid was mobilised and arrived more quickly.

A month after the earthquake, Pastor Marc Madrigal explained to Spanish news website Protestante Digital how the aid was arriving, which over the months even led to the construction of over a hundred houses for the most affected people. The local evangelical community, larger than in neighbouring Syria, also mobilised from the beginning in coordinating aid from other churches and denominations in other countries.

In Syria, on the other hand, it was more complicated. While more media attention was focused on the organisation of rescue teams in Turkey, in the neighbouring country, with over 6,000 people dead and a war raging, the most basic humanitarian aid did not even arrive.

Seven months later, the reality is not much different, explains Abdallah, pastor of the Alliance Church in Aleppo.

“It is by all odds an equation not to be easily fathomed, namely how people, exceedingly badly-off, are able to provide for their very basic needs. There is no more satisfactory description to explain the situation than saying that people are living by God’s grace”, underlines Abdallah in a conversation with Protestante Digital.

Aid that does not come

According to Action Against Hunger, families are still without shelter after the earthquake destroyed their homes.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that up to 15 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian aid.

“The rescue phase of the earthquake response may have concluded, but the emergency situation persists”, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Head of Delegation in Syria, Mads Brinch Hansen told Europa Press agency.

“Immediate international support is needed right now, both to meet immediate humanitarian needs, as well as to build people’s resilience and rehabilitate vital infrastructure and community services , which are on the brink of collapse”.

“People are more helpless and in need than ever”

Abdallah points out that “it is a fact that because of the affiliation to the Eastern camp, as well as the sanctions imposed on the country, Syria did not receive aid in the same momentum and magnitude as Turkey did”.

For the pastor, “what makes the situation more unbearable is that the war in Syria took its toll on the economic, social and emotional levels. Thus, the earthquake and the war in Syria should not be discussed separable as they are two inseparable realities”.

“Adding the pandemic to the aforementioned, the earthquake was a phase in a series of unfortunate events. People are more helpless and in need than ever. They feel insecure as they expect more catastrophic events in the future”, adds Abdallah.

Churches to channel the aid

Since the aftermath of the earthquake, churches such as the Alliance Church in Aleppo have organised themselves to ask for help from abroad and to ensure that it reaches the people who need it.

According to Abdallah, “one of the major means through which God intervened in the country is through the church. Itwas able to receive aid, though limited, and to support the wide range of backgrounds in the community”.

“The church was able to maneuver the sanctions and at the same time found favor in the eyes of the government who did not try, to a great extent, to control the aid distributed by the church as it was obvious that the church is playing a vital role in rescuing those in need”.

In Spain, the social branch of the Spanish evangelical alliance, Alianza Solidaria, has provided school supplies and educational support from the first moments after the tragedy.

The organisation has collaborated in sending basic goods, such as blankets and medicines, to the area most affected by the earthquake.

It has also started a school training project with 61 Syrian children, facilitating their access to education at a time when many of the schools are destroyed.

Call to prayer

From Aleppo, Abdallah urges Christians in Europe to “pray that God put an end to the series of unfortunate events the country has gone through since 2011”.

He also asks them “to pray that God may send workers to the gruelling harvest field; that God may continue to inspire the western church by the perseverance of the church in the east; and may keep the eastern church in the prayers of the church in the west”.