The response to the quake has left Syrians feeling neglected as the effects of the war and sanctions hinder relief efforts.

Syrians feel left out as the fallout from the war and sanctions hamper relief efforts following a 7.8 earthquake that killed more than 21,000 people in Syria and Turkey.

Significant efforts have been made to send aid to Turkey, but aid workers and members of the British Syrian community have expressed concern that rescue operations in war-torn Syria will take much longer due to access and infrastructure problems.

Layal Mohammad, 32, a Syrian based in London, said it hurts people in her home country have limited access to support after Monday’s earthquake and is concerned about the attention Syria has received since the tragedy.

Mrs Mohammad says I: “I will tell you what the Syrians say: “We have each other only because no one cares about us.”

Jeremy Smith, Country Cluster Manager for the Middle East and North Africa at the British Red Cross, said: “In Syria, this is really the worst-case scenario for us. This is a nightmare scenario.

“We have been working on the other side of the cholera outbreak. We worked during terrible winter storms and winter weather.”

Mr Smith added: “We know that reconstruction efforts in Turkey are likely to be much faster than in Syria.

“Syria already had reduced infrastructure and medical infrastructure, water supply and sewerage infrastructure, electricity supply infrastructure; Access to fuel in Syria is incredibly difficult.

“But we know that due to the additional challenges of being an area in a crisis of conflict for 12 years, access issues will be more severe and response will take longer.”

Ms Mohammad was born in Syria but came to the UK as a student and then applied for asylum when the conflict in Syria escalated. She encourages people to send cash donations instead of clothing and food to Syrian humanitarian organizations and NGOs working in the country, such as Focus, the Red Crescent and the Aga Khan Development Network, where she works.

Her parents remain in Syria and are safe for now. But many others are not so lucky.

“I talked to my friends and family – they just went barefoot,” she said. “There were people on the street who didn’t know what to expect, but this is in my area… But there are other areas, whether in the center of Syria or in the north, where people are buried under rubble.”

She added: “I feel more pain because you left and I don’t think there is much you can do, although I think there are other ways we can contribute, we can do our best. We cannot be with our families and loved ones. I tried to tell all my friends and everyone I know. I have prepared messages explaining the situation in Syria so that they can share them with others so that they can donate and raise awareness.”

Ms Mohammad added: “It is very sad. I have friends from Turkey, I checked them, but Turkey was strong enough, she did not have to endure a war and she has more international support than Syria. Syria doesn’t get that kind of support and talks about US sanctions every time.”

The US has imposed tough sanctions on Syria but granted a six-month waiver of humanitarian operations so that life-saving aid can be delivered to those in need as quickly as possible.

Ms. Mohammad, Marketing and Communications Manager, called She fears that if aid organizations do not receive the resources they so desperately need, it will be too late to rescue Syrians affected by the tragedy.

She said: “The problem is that after all these years of war and after the inhumane and unethical sanctions that really made things worse, we don’t have the infrastructure and that’s the problem because a lot of people were trying to make a contribution. , but because of the sanctions, you don’t have the tools.”

“I think it’s important to transfer the money,” she said. “I think the focus should really be on Syria. This does not mean that I feel sorry for the Syrians and Turkey, but Syria is indeed going through a great tragedy.

“Thousands of people need housing. It’s freezing winter now, we no longer have electricity [and] fuel due to sanctions. We don’t have literally basic things. So if there’s money, then that money [deserves to be spent] to the needs of the people.”

A spokesman for the Syrian British Medical Society (SBMS), which is working with UOSSM and SAMS to raise funds to support hospitals in northern Syria, said I Help did not reach those most in need.

“We believe that aid is going to Turkey and then to Damascus, but not reaching the local population in northern Syria, that’s the problem.

“At the moment, the people who are most needed are those who are fighting there, in northern Syria, near Idlib and Aleppo and near the border with Turkey. These areas are not supported by the Syrian regime, so most of the state aid to Syria will go through the Syrian regime, and the people who have been affected and need help the most, unfortunately, are not getting the full support they need.”

A surgeon from the UK said hospitals were struggling to treat the large number of casualties and were in need of any form of medical assistance. As part of its efforts, the SBMS plans to organize medical missions in northern Syria in the near future.

He added that many people in the affected areas of Syria were under the rubble due to a lack of resources that require donations at the intergovernmental level.

He said: “They don’t have excavators, they don’t have the ability to pull people out from under collapsed buildings… they need all this huge support that neither organizations nor people who need international support can provide.

“What worries us is because it was [five] For several days, people heard their loved ones screaming for help, but now everything is quiet. In fact, people are very upset. The White Helmets also work day and night, but they work with their hands, digging with very primitive materials and tools, far from what Turkey can offer and what the regime in Damascus can offer.”