“All hope died here”: helper reports from Aleppo “All hope died here”: helper reports from Aleppo

As Fee Baumann walks through the devastated streets of Aleppo, she paints a dramatic picture of the situation: people sitting in the street crying, people begging her for help. people who have lost everything. “These people are totally desperate. You don’t know where to go. You see how much they suffer’, says Baumann in a telephone conversation with t-online.

Baumann works for the Syrian Red Crescent, a sister organization of Medico International based in Frankfurt. She coordinates relief transports to the needy. She has lived in northeastern Syria for over five years and is currently volunteering in Aleppo. For many years, the people there were among the main victims of the civil war. Of the damaged and destroyed houses, only a few have been rebuilt. The population is suffering from the country’s economic downturn. The region is partly controlled by various rebel groups and partly by the Syrian regime. And now the devastating earthquake struck them.

Baumann is currently in the Kurdish districts of Sheikh Madsood and Ashrafie. Photos she sent to t-online show completely destroyed houses. Some are at high risk of collapse. Normally these would have to be demolished, but heavy equipment is missing.

About 300,000 people would live in the two districts, says Baumann. About 20,000 live in emergency shelters. They could not return to their homes. There is almost no help here. “We need tents, blankets, mattresses, heating, food, drinking water and medicines. Almost everything is missing here,” Baumann reports. She criticizes the fact that both the Turkish and Syrian sides are blocking the shipments. In addition, according to Baumann, Shia militias around Sheikh Madsood and Ashrafie do not allow transports through. In general, there is hardly any help for Kurds. Instead, Turkey and the Assad regime continue to launch airstrikes against Kurdish areas in northern Syria. This is also reported by the Stern. “The situation is bad,” says Baumann.

Before Baumann reached Aleppo with the aid convoy, she was trapped for ten days at the last checkpoint in the area controlled by the Assad regime (reported t-online). The Syrian army had asked them to hand over half of the relief supplies to the victims of the earthquake. They would have rejected that, so Baumann.

Days of talks followed between the UN, the Syrian Foreign Ministry, Italy and Syrian officials. It was only after ten days that the Assad regime withdrew from its demands. At the time, Baumann reported in a video available on t-online that the nights were so cold that their water tanks froze. “People outside spent the night with practically nothing. We were afraid people could freeze to death. Luckily that didn’t happen in the end.”

In general, the health condition in Aleppo is not good, both mentally and physically. The people of Aleppo also urgently need psychological help, Baumann continued. Aleppo has been heavily marked by the civil war for years. There are always isolated aftershocks, which make the houses even more unstable, says Baumann. “These earthquakes leave a trauma. Even I noticed. As soon as I enter a house, I get sick. It feels like I’m getting seasick. People hang things on the walls to see if they shake themselves or the earth.”

In addition, Aleppo and the region are shielded. Everything you need to live here would take months to arrive. “I’m glad we can help. There is an excellent medical team in the rooms. They work well together, but everything is missing here too. You have two ambulances, both of which are broken,” says Baumann.

Baumann’s team is also willing to cooperate with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC). Attempts at cooperation, however, probably failed due to political differences. Because the SARC is loyal to the regime and rejects Kurdish organizations on principle. Urgently needed relief supplies in Aleppo are only reaching those living in areas controlled by the Syrian government, the “Tagesschau” reports.

The situation on the ground has become “more dramatic” since the earthquake.

What should we do now, given the lack of relief supplies? Baumann also has no solution. “The situation used to be bad. But since the earthquake, the situation has become even more dramatic. At some point, people can no longer. It’s amazing how long they’ve lasted. All hope and perspective has died here.”

Thousands of people are left with nothing. Whether and how the region will recover from the quakes remains questionable. “It will take a few more years. The rebuilding of the houses that could still be saved would take years. The people’s only perspective is the camps. But it would be best if they left the country. But most of them don’t have the money there for.”