After the earthquake, on-site help is difficult
Spenger collects donations for Syria
SPENGE (WB). The earthquake disaster in Turkey and Syria also mobilized volunteers in Spenge who want help. A Syrian who fled seven years ago started a fundraiser. After all, transporting goods from the hills would take too long. And aid in Syria is proving difficult.
The pictures from the Turks and Syria of collapsed houses and lifeless bodies being recovered from the concrete rubble ensure a great deal of sympathy and a willingness to help, also in Spenge…”Here where many people who have lost relatives come from and now want to help with a joint appeal for donations “says Annegret Beckmann, chairwoman of the Asyl Spenge integration aid association.
Samir Al Najjar, secretary of the association, fled Syria seven years ago. He explains the situation: “The earthquake hit the region in particular hard, into which the opponents of the Assad regime were pushed back. Accordingly, no humanitarian aid can be expected from the government there. Everything is missing: machines and tools to rescue the buried victims, food and warm blankets and clothing.
Almost no aid arrives in Syria While aid workers and goods from 60 countries have now arrived in Turkey, aid organizations have hardly ever reached the affected Syrians because the political situation in the country ravaged by civil war is so difficult.
Only the “White Helmets”, the Syrian civil defense, are active on site. Samir Al Najjar is in contact with them. Anyone who didn’t die from the earthquake will now die in the cold” they would have said. “Almost every Syrian here in Spenge has lost someone.” Samir Al Najjar, Al Najjar has been on the phone with various offices for days and had considered organizing an auxiliary truck transport of goods along the lines of the Spenger Ukraine Aid. But that would be too tedious. If we send money, we can help faster. There is an opportunity for civil defense to buy aid supplies in Turkey,” says the young man, driven by inner unrest and a feeling of powerlessness.
Contact is lost on the day of the earthquake Meanwhile, his compatriot Dahlawi Asfari finds it difficult to find words for what happened. The widower and father of five children lost ten relatives in Idlib in the earthquake. The whole family of a brother of his wife, who died two years ago, died in the accident. “We had daily telephone contact” he is translated by Al Najjar. “But on the day of the earthquake I couldn’t reach anyone and at first I didn’t know what was going on. I wasn’t sure until two days later. Two of my brother-in-law’s children were found dead immediately. From other family members there were still signs of life from the rubble. But after two days they fell silent too,” says the visibly moved Syrian, who now hopes to see his parents safely again soon. Karl Hankel and Annegret Beckmann from Asyl Spenge also want to help and support Samir Al Najjar, who set up a donation account as a private individual. He wants to transfer the money to the White Helmets”. “Almost every Syrian here in Spenge has to mourn at least one death. We would be very happy to receive support,” says Al Najjar. The account details are on the website.
www.asyl-spenge.de
Quelle: Westfalen Blatt
Foto: Daniela Dembert