Al Ahram Weekly
Azza Radwan Sedky
Tuesday 14 Feb 2023
When disasters like last week’s earthquake befall a region, the world should stand with the beleaguered and disregard differences, writes Azza Radwan Sedky
The world stood still as a devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake, the deadliest this century, killed over 28,000 people, left five million in precarious conditions, and flattened entire sections of towns and cities in ravaged northern Syria and Turkey. The number of victims is expected to continue to rise in the coming days as rescue efforts dwindle.
A calamity of this magnitude deserves the world’s undivided attention, but it seems that some, even during such disasters, cannot set aside old differences.
Egypt, however, reacted swiftly and spontaneously. President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi offered to do whatever was possible to support the two beleaguered countries. During a press conference with Croatian President Zoran Milanovich who was visiting Egypt, Al-Sisi expressed his solidarity with both nations, saying “I express my sincere condolences to the people of Syria and Turkey and the families of the victims of this devastating earthquake that struck the Eastern Mediterranean region.”
President Al-Sisi then called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to offer condolences and humanitarian aid, overlooking the strained relations between the two countries that have been in place since the removal of former President Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Presidential Spokesman Ahmed Fahmi said that President Al-Sisi had stressed Egypt’s solidarity with the brotherly Turkish people, noting that humanitarian assistance and relief will be delivered to help Turkey overcome the consequences of the disaster.
In a similar call to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, President Al-Sisi reiterated Egypt’s solidarity and his intention of directing all possible aid to Syria. This was the first telephone call between an Egyptian leader and the Syrian government since the Syrian Civil War erupted and since Al-Sisi himself took office in 2014.
Five military planes carrying emergency medical aid were sent to Turkey and Syria to contribute to relief efforts.
During a crisis of such a size, aid to rescue lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity must become the sole focus, disregarding earlier conflicts and disagreements. Egypt did just this. However, not all countries behave in a similar humanitarian fashion.
Al-Ahram Weekly editorial of 7 February said that “the shock of the deaths of thousands of people while asleep in their homes, entire families vanishing, and massive damage to property is a time for world leaders and governments to set aside their political differences and unite in expressing solidarity. Facing such a heavy death toll reminds us of our shared human destiny and how helpless we all are in the face of natural disasters.”
There was an immediate outpouring of international assistance to Turkey, offering search and rescue teams, medical equipment, tents, and food. Just about all the European countries and other countries, too, were there for Turkey.
The newspaper Balkan Insight said that “dozens of European and Balkan countries have responded to Turkey’s appeal for help.” According to UK satellite channel Sky News, the UK sent 76 search and rescue specialists with equipment and dogs, as well as an emergency medical team, to Turkey.
The US dispatched two 79-person search and rescue teams to assist Turkish officials. Hundreds of Los Angeles County firefighters and structural engineers participated in the response efforts. Italy, France, Spain, and many other European countries pledged support.
But in Syria, on the other side of the border, things were different. BBC journalist Quentin Sommerville in an article entitled “No tents, no aid, nothing: Why Syrians feel forgotten” wrote that “I had just crossed the border from four days in the city of Antakya, Turkey, where the aid response is a cacophony — ambulance sirens blare all night long, dozens of earth movers roar and rip apart concrete 24 hours a day. Among the olive groves in the village of Bsania, in Syria’s Idlib province, there’s mostly silence.”
Those who came to Syria’s aid were Russia, Iran, and the Arab countries, in addition to China, India, and Venezuela, an obvious pattern of who helps whom.
The bottom line is that the US and the rest of the western world remains adamantly against the Al-Assad regime in Syria, considering any form of normalisation as unacceptable. According to the US AP wire service, “the government of Bashar Al-Assad in Damascus is still a pariah in much of the international community, sanctioned by the US and European countries, which are reluctant to route aid directly through the government.”
US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said that “it would be ironic, if not even counterproductive, for us to reach out to a government that has brutalised its people.” And yet the US is doing pretty much the same by not providing support today to those who critically need its care and backing. The sanctions should not impede aid.
The UN Special Envoy to Syria told reporters that “the emergency response must not be politicised” and that aid was needed to get to areas controlled by Damascus as well as those held by the rebels.
In November 2022, Alena Douhan, a Belarusian law professor and independent human-rights expert at the UN, called for an end to all sanctions on Syria. “I urge the immediate lifting of all unilateral sanctions that severely harm human rights and prevent any efforts for early recovery,” she said. Douhan had spent some time in Syria and in her end-of-mission statement she suggested that the sanctions on Syria “may amount to crimes against humanity”.
Similarly, US journalist Matthew Petti in a blog has compared the differences between the current response to the disaster in Syria and other earthquake emergencies in previous decades. “There was once a time when earthquake relief transcended, and even helped mend, political divisions. From the late 1980s to the early 2000s, political adversaries extended a hand to each other several times during severe natural disasters.”
The writer is former professor of communication based in Vancouver, Canada.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 16 February, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
Comments