Bab al-Hawa, Syria — Hundreds of Syrian refugees in Turkey who made it through recently’s earthquakes are going back to their war-torn homeland after as soon as again losing whatever.
Turkish authorities have actually revealed the opening of border crossings for Syrians after the February 6 quakes, which eliminated 10s of countless individuals.
Mohamad al-Sawad, 69, is a refugee from Halfaya in the northern Syrian countryside. He has actually been residing in the town of Belen for 11 years near the city of Iskenderun in Turkey’s Hatay province.
Al Jazeera spoke with him as he went into Syria through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing after he was left stranded in Turkey following the fatal temblor.
“On the day of the earthquake, … the structure started to shake strongly, and the electrical energy was cut off, that made us have a hard time a lot to reach the door of your house due to the fact that of the darkness,” al-Sawad stated.
He remained for 2 days oversleeping the cold and rain with his household on farmland near Belen. After that, he and about 3,000 other individuals relocated to among the shelters Turkish authorities opened for survivors who have actually lost their houses.
“I got in Syria today, where I can cope with loved ones and console my good friends who lost relative in the earthquake,” al-Sawad stated.
More than 1,790 Syrians have actually returned house from Turkey since Wednesday, according to border authorities.
“At Bab al-Hawa, we are helping with the entry of our Syrian individuals originating from Turkey … by providing documents showing the date of their entry and tape-recording the time of their arranged return,” stated Mazen Alloush, director of public relations and media at the border crossing.
The only Syrian refugees permitted to get in are those with “short-term security” cards from the 10 Turkish provinces ravaged by the earthquakes– Gaziantep, Hatay, Sanliurfa, Adana, Kahramanmaraş, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Adiyaman, Osmaniye and Malatya.
“This is the very first time in 2 years that the crossing has actually been opened from the Turkish side for the entry of Syrian refugees,” Alloush stated.
The only Syrians utilizing the Bab al-Hawa crossing prior to it was formally resumed were refugees eliminated in the quake, and they can be found in a constant stream of bodies.
‘Great losses’
According to Turkey’s Directorate of Immigration, 460,150 Syrian refugees were signed up as living in the southern city of Gaziantep and 354,000 refugees in the city of Hatay since February 1.
It stays uncertain for returning Syrians what they can anticipate back house. After the magnitude 7.8 and 7.6 earthquakes struck northern Syria and neighbouring Turkey, the United Nations has actually acknowledged a global failure to assist Syrian quake victims.
The quake struck rebel-held northwestern Syria hard. The more than 4 million individuals who live there have actually dealt with federal government air and weapons attacks for several years.
Numerous Syrians in the area have actually been displaced more than as soon as by the Syrian war, and lots of reside in congested camping tent settlements.
The UN’s humanitarian affairs chief, Martin Griffiths has actually gone to the Turkish-Syrian border and acknowledged that Syrians had actually been “searching for worldwide assistance that hasn’t shown up”.
‘At least I have a home’
Um Yaser is a refugee from the town of Kafranbel in the southern countryside of Idlib province. She had actually resided in the Turkish city of Antakya with her child, daughter-in-law, and 3 grandchildren for more than 9 years after leaving Syria’s civil war.
She stated her home and possessions have actually been damaged in the quakes together with much of the rest of Antakya.
“Until this minute, I can not think what occurred. In less than 2 minutes, Antakya ended up being total damage,” Um Yaser informed Al Jazeera. “We ended up being homeless, without shelter. We move every day to a location to secure my grandchildren from the cold and rain.”
Um Yaser stated she chose to go back to Syria as quickly as she became aware of the Turkish federal government’s choice to open the crossings for Syrian refugees since among her boys resides in the town of Dana in northern Idlib.
“I understand the scenario in Idlib is not safe and the earthquake has actually caused terrific losses, however a minimum of I have a home here to shelter me and my grandchildren,” she stated after getting here in Syria.
The death toll from the earthquakes approached 42,000 on Thursday with more than 36,000 individuals eliminated in Turkey and about 5,800 in Syria.
‘Impossible to explain’
Mahmoud al-Issa, who is from the town of Darkush in Idlib, stated he went into Turkey a month back to take his other half to a health center in Antakya for cancer treatments.
“It is difficult to explain our circumstance throughout the earthquake,” al-Issa stated. “the only thing we desired at the time was to discover a method to interact and look at my household and kids in Syria.”
“Today, we go back to our town, however I do not understand how we will continue to treat my partner or how I will offer her with medication, which is not readily available in our location,” he stated.