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Melissa Harris-Perry: It's The Takeaway. I'm Melissa Harris-Perry. Last Monday, parts of Syria and Turkey were once again struck by a fatal earthquake, this time of a 6.4 magnitude. This time the epicenter was in Turkey, about 100 miles south of the epicenter of the first two massive earthquakes that hit just two weeks earlier. This latest quake killed at least eight people and injured hundreds more. Among those hurt were some residents who had just returned to homes that had withstood the first two series of quakes, only to be trapped in their collapse after the third. One video captured travelers in Hatay's airport crouching for cover through the tremors.
[people screaming]
All this even as rescue and recovery efforts from the first series of quakes continues slowly and painfully, the airport where we just heard those sounds of such horror and fear had reopened on February 13th after the first earthquake split its runway in two. It has already become vital to both incoming aid and outgoing evacuations. More than 50,000 people in both Turkey and Syria have been killed by the impact of these, now, three quakes and their aftershocks.
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With me now is Shirin Jaafari, reporter covering the Middle East at The World. Shirin, thanks so much for joining me.
Shirin Jaafari: My pleasure.
Melissa Harris-Perry: Now, it feels impossible that the devastation of the first few earthquakes could get even worse. Can you tell us a bit about how the people in the region that you've spoken with are feeling now after this third quake?
Shirin Jaafari: Melissa, the aftershocks, as you say, continue, and the people are already, as you said, devastated. They continue to be scared and there's a sense of panic constantly. The head of Turkey's disaster and emergency management agency has said that they expect these aftershocks to continue for another two years. Imagine how people can plan for their lives when these aftershocks continue to take place. Some of them are pretty strong, 5.6 magnitude and so on. They are pretty strong.
The needs are huge. Thousands of people have been made homeless, they've been displaced, they have no jobs, they've lost their businesses. Infrastructure like roads, water, and electricity, those still need to be repaired. Some of the most affected areas from videos that I've seen have turned into ghost towns because people have basically left. They've left to stay with relatives, if they have other places to stay, because their homes are just simply not livable. Again, these aftershocks continue and the sense of panic continues.
Melissa Harris-Perry: Now, you just mentioned the people that you've talked to, I know that you reached a resident of Idlib, Syria last Friday. Can you tell us a bit about him?
Shirin Jaafari: Absolutely. I reached Mustafa Danon last Friday. He lives in Idlib city along with his wife and two children. He has an 11-month-old and a 2-year-old. He told me before the war, he studied nursing and political science, but after the war began, he switched into becoming this citizen journalist. He takes pictures and videos of what is happening in his area, in his city, and then he shares it on social media just to get the word out about what is happening in Syria.
Mustafa told me that his house wasn't destroyed in the first earthquake, so they decided to stay. Given all the aftershocks, they are really scared. One of them happened last Monday. That was a 6.4 magnitude. Here's what he told me about that night.
Mustafa Danon: I started to feel really scared, really afraid. We have to find a safer place. All of my relatives are now in their farms.
Shirin Jaafari: Mustafa told me that a lot of people are now living in between their homes, if they're standing, and their cars and tents pitched outside in the open farmlands. He said some of the people spend their days in the home because they need their basic stuff, and then they move outside in the tents at night because they're scared that an aftershock is going to happen at night when they're asleep.
Melissa Harris-Perry: In fact, your point about Mustafa's switch to really being a citizen journalist is a reminder about the brutal civil war. Tell me a bit more about what you learned in your conversation with him about what life looks like now.
Shirin Jaafari: Absolutely. This war has been going on for 12 years. That is a really long time. A lot of people in this part of the country have been displaced many times over. Mustafa told me that Syrians in this part of the country are used to receiving death from the skies. He was referring to fighter jets dropping bombs. He said, "We didn't expect and never imagined was that the ground under our feet is also going to turn against us." Now, some of these families are in a more difficult situation because they have small children. It's really difficult for these families. I asked Mustafa how he has been talking with his children and how his children have been coping.
Mustafa Danon: They don't know about anything. I was scared about them because I have to protect them, I have to take them to safe places. When I feel aftershock, I carry them and go out of the house.
Melissa Harris-Perry: I know also, Shirin, the last time that you were with us here on The Takeaway, you spoke about the difficulty of being able to get aid into affected areas. We hear from Mustafa about these challenges and yet we also know that aid workers are having challenges. Have there been any meaningful inroads infrastructure into these areas?
Shirin Jaafari: Yes, at the beginning the aid was very slow to arrive. It took five days for the first aid to arrive in this part of the country, which has been the most impacted. Now, when I talk to Mustafa, he said it's been getting better. We've seen some reports of international aid getting through, the European Union said this week that some aid has arrived in Damascus. International aid groups like the World Food Program and also the United Nations have been on the ground, and they have been distributing food and other necessities.
Bashar al-Assad, the president, has allowed aid to cross into Turkey from the border. They've opened up a few other border crossings. At the beginning there was only one that was opened, that was allowed, but now there are a few more. He has also allowed aid to get into that part of the country through the South, through the government-held areas, which is called cross-line. This is when aid crosses the line between government-held areas into the opposition-held areas. We've seen some of that happen. When I asked Mustafa how he feels about aid and help coming from the Assad government, this is how he responded.
Mustafa Danon: He's killing us since 2011. Now they want to think humanity. No, we don't need your help. Just stop your warplanes, stop your artillery from killing us and we are good.
Shirin Jaafari: Again, this war has been going on for 12 years and people like Mustafa are really traumatized by this conflict. They say, "Just leave us alone. At least let's not have the warplanes flying over us and bombing us, then we can deal with the earthquake." By the way, he told me that some of these attacks have been going on even after the earthquake. He says what he really wants is for the fighting to end.
Melissa Harris-Perry: All right, we're going to take a quick pause right here. We'll be back with more on the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria right after this.
[people screaming]
Shirin Jaafari is a reporter covering the Middle East at The World. Turkey, which was the epicenter of this latest smaller quake, has not been in the midst of a brutal civil war and yet we still see painfully slow government relief and rescue. What's happening in Turkey?
Shirin Jaafari: The search and rescue efforts have been stopped and now the focus is on helping those who have survived to have shelter, to have food, to have a place to stay. There's a lot of anger and grief about what happened in Turkey because a lot of these houses that were destroyed were sold to people as being earthquake safe. As we saw, a lot of them crumbled and they were not safe. Of course, a lot of people who paid for these houses and buildings are really upset and they want justice. They want answers.
Melissa Harris-Perry: In the midst of this human suffering, it feels almost icky to talk about the politics, but there is the politics here. Turkey's president is up for reelection, do you have a sense of how this has affected the political situation in Turkey?
Shirin Jaafari: Yes, of course. The elections are supposed to be held in June. There is some debate about whether Turkey should hold elections, given that this part of the country has been impacted so severely. There are questions about whether people can get to polling stations and an election can be held. So far, it sounds like Erdogan is determined to go ahead with these elections. He has acknowledged that there were shortcomings at the beginning, shortcomings in terms of the government's response. His critics have been seizing this moment to question his leadership.
A big part of that is that the government has issued, over the years, thousands of these so-called amnesties for buildings to be built without the required permits and standards. Erdogan has been trying to push back against these criticisms. He has launched a temporary wage support program. This is for people who lost their jobs and businesses. He has also banned layoffs in 10 cities that were most affected. This is, again, to protect workers. He has promised financial support for those who have been affected in the earthquake. He said, "We're going to rebuild as fast as we can. Turkey is going to rebuild. It's going to come back."
It seems like so far he's in damage control, but like I said, there's a lot of anger and resentment. Having said all of that, this is not the first time that Erdogan faces major challenges as a president. You might recall that in 2016, he faced an attempted military coup. He survived that coup, not necessarily by changing people's minds about himself, but by unleashing a huge crackdown on opponents and critics. He does what he needs to to survive. We have to wait and see how he does this time around.
Melissa Harris-Perry: Shirin Jaafari is a reporter covering the Middle East at The World. Thank you so much for joining us again here on The Takeaway, Shirin.
Shirin Jaafari: You're welcome.
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