The suffering that has befallen them is unbearable. Yet, in the rubble, next to the corpses that are still buried under the ruins, with nothing to eat or drink, the victims of the earthquake in Syria will have to endure this immense suffering, in addition to the wounds that the war is already inflicting on them; and in front of their pain and sorrow, their helplessness, we, a few thousand miles away, feel similarly helpless. For in Syria, a war is going on without end, the reasons and causes of which are fading into the mists of time. (I am not forgetting that the Turkish population is also terribly affected, but that is not what we are talking about here.)
In an interview in the Bavarian daily newspaper Abendzeitung on 10.02.2023, the Munich-based comedian Christian Springer talks about the aid provided by his organization Orient Helfer and tells the following: “This morning I spoke to a Syrian again and asked him what they needed. He laughed and said: Peace! Then the borders would be open for humanitarian aid.”
War and earthquake: too much suffering
“Then the borders would be open for humanitarian aid. This sentence hurts. Because it illustrates as clearly as possible the merciless absurdity of a never-ending war: because of the constant fighting, the victims can only be reached through a narrow corridor. War only makes everything more difficult.
And then this other sentence from Springer: “At a Turkish airport, we saw an Israeli and an Iranian plane landing side by side, which were going to bring aid. That’s what this world needs! I thought it was quite a symbol.”
This is so true! This was also suggested by a woman I have known for a long time now, and who, for years, has been working tirelessly for peace in the WILPF (Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom): “Drop the weapons now, so that we can all help together, that’s what we need!”
In how many countries in the world do natural disasters combine with the wounds of war to make life impossible for any creature? It is hardly possible to speak of survival in these very precarious conditions. We can then interpret this earthquake as an exhortation to peace. But the powerful of this world continue to turn a deaf ear.
