Medics in Syria's rebel-held region say the earthquake that hit the region on February 6 has proved the most difficult challenge yet, overwhelming health facilities already battered by more than a decade of conflict
"The earthquake was the hardest thing we have ever experienced because everything was lost - electricity, oxygen, the heating for the children," he said in an interview at a hospital in al-Qah, where he has been working since the quake.
More than 4,500 people have been reported killed and 8,300 people injured by the earthquake in northwest Syria, according to the United Nations - the bulk of the casualties reported from Syria, a country fractured by civil war since 2011. Hospitals in the rebel-held northwest have been shelled repeatedly in the war: in 2019, more than 60 medical facilities were struck in a six-month period in the northwest Idlib area, and appeared to have been deliberately targeted by government-affiliated forces, a U.N. rights spokesman said at the time.
Zeidan previously worked at a hospital that operated out of a cave in the Kafr Zeita region of the rebel-held northwest. Known as the "cave hospital", it was hit repeatedly. Zeidan said he left that hospital in 2018 as government forces were close to capturing the area. The Syrian government has denied hitting civilian targets such as hospitals.A view shows the exterior of the hospital which is supported by Syrian American Medical Society and was damaged by the deadly earthquake earlier this month in al-Dana town at rebel-held Idlib, Syria February 20, 2023.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Syrian refugees in Turkey face harassment after quake: 'I never felt this level of racism before'“Turkish people in the area came and told us they didn’t want us here — that we were to blame for the earthquake and that we weren’t welcome to stay,” said Basel, a 31-year-old refugee. “They started breaking up the tent, shouting at us until we left.”
Read more »
New 6.4 earthquake strikes Turkey as death toll climbs to nearly 47,000A magnitude 6.4 aftershock struck Turkey on Monday, two weeks after a massive earthquake left tens of thousands of people dead in Turkey and Syria.
Read more »
New 6.4 earthquake strikes Turkey as death toll climbs to nearly 47,000A magnitude 6.4 aftershock struck Turkey on Monday, two weeks after a massive earthquake left tens of thousands of people dead in Turkey and Syria.
Read more »
Turkey and Syria Shaken After New Earthquake HitsThe quake was followed by 32 aftershocks, the nation's disaster and emergency agency said.
Read more »
Newborn baby saved following birth under Syrian earthquake rubble, family saysA newborn girl was found crying, buried under debris from the Syrian earthquake, with her umbilical cord still connected to her mother.
Read more »
Syrian Earthquake Victims Desperately Need Aid — and an End to US SanctionsSanctions collectively punish innocent Syrians who have already endured years of war, displacement and disaster.
Read more »