Monday’s earthquake in Syria and Turkey brought the world's attention to a region that was unstable before disaster struck. WSHU’s Molly Ingram spoke with Dylan Connor, a Stratford resident who is a member of the Syrian American Council, to hear about what’s being done for victims and their community.
WSHU: Dylan, tell me about your position with the Syrian American Council and what that organization does.
DC: I am on the national board, which is a position that you run for. The board is about ten or so folks from around the country. And we have regular meetings to discuss ways that we can best advocate for a free and democratic Syria.
WSHU: Syria was already grappling with instability before this earthquake. To what extent was it prepared for a natural disaster? And how does this complicate things?
DC: Yeah, Syria was very much unprepared. And having been weakened by over a decade of war and neglect from the world — the powers that be have really let Syria fester. Especially in the north, where the earthquake hit, that's where most of the displaced Syrians are living who've been displaced from the war over the years. And many of them are living in camps, which obviously don't have any real infrastructure. Many of the buildings that are in the north of Syria and in the south of Turkey, are not built very well in terms of, you know, being ready for an earthquake. I've been to the area several times. In southern Turkey, it's very much like a little Syria, because over the years, so many Syrians have come into those southern Turkish towns like Gaziantep, and Reyhanlı.
One thing I will say about them being prepared is that these are people who have suffered for a very long time, they know suffering like many of us here do not. And also there is, for example, the rescue team of the White Helmets. That search and rescue team has been operating there for a long time otherwise known as the Syria Civil Defense. And they are well trained in rescuing people from catastrophes. So they were ready to go when this happened. They've been working tirelessly ever since to dig people out of the rubble.
WSHU: So I spoke to Cora Nally yesterday, she’s from Americares. She's deploying to Syria to help with relief efforts. She touched on the importance of mental health support for survivors and first responders. Can you speak on that?
DC: Absolutely. I think that's a wonderful sentiment and point of view. And it's often one that is overlooked when you're in a crisis. So for example, when I've worked with Syrians who are in the business of responding to other people's trauma, or when I'm working with Syrians on the ground in Jordan, or southern Turkey whose job it is to help refugees from Syria, they often see a lot of traumatic things on a daily basis, and they don't take time to tend to their own mental well-being.
And you can see that it takes a toll, these people who are the aid workers are often traumatized themselves. So I will say that I have definitely noticed the need for more of a focus on the social emotional well-being of the aid workers. Now as for the victims themselves, which is really more important at this moment, absolutely, this is going to cause immense trauma. And it is very important that when we find survivors that we not only tend to them physically, but that we tend to their trauma and their emotional well-being. And so I think deploying mental health workers of any kind is an excellent idea.
But with that being said at the moment, really everyone that I've been hearing from is in utter emergency mode. And they are just trying to dig people out. I think that that's important for people to know is that right now, this is an ongoing, very much in the moment, growing catastrophe. And it's really pretty apocalyptic, from the videos and images I've been seeing from the area and conversations with friends on the ground. For instance, a friend of mine named Hassan Almossa yesterday was trying to get to Antakya. But the roads were completely blocked by cars that had run out of gas. It's snowing, he sent me a video of it snowing, which just adds insult to injury. And he has five family homes that have been destroyed. And he's not only an aid worker, but also concerned about his own family. So if you can imagine that situation, all the aid workers are also victims, in a sense, because everyone's living in that area.
WSHU: What impact does this have on the Connecticut Syrian community?
DC: That's a double-sided coin. One of the positive effects it has had is that people who I haven't heard from, and we in the community have not heard from in a long time, as Syria has drifted away from the news in recent years, are now coming out of the woodwork to offer their condolences and concerns and offers for help. And that's really nice to see. So that's one effect, it’s woken everybody back up to the fact that this area of the world is in need of a lot of attention and rebuilding, and it can't just be left to fester and go on being ignored by so much of the world.
Negatively, it brings up, I think, old traumas of seeing dead bodies that remind us of the early days of the uprising in the Arab Spring and the horrific attacks on innocent civilians, by the Assad regime and Russian and Iranian allies of the Assad regime. Growing up in Fairfield County, we are very much in a different world, and a bit of a bubble compared to a lot of other parts of the world. I happened to marry a Syrian woman, and that was my connection. So for people who are here in America, it's pretty hard to see the images and feel that helplessness that often accompanies these tragedies, whether it's war or natural disaster.
WSHU: Do you think that this could be big enough to bring attention to the larger issues in the region?
DC: After over a decade of working in this field closely, I would say, unfortunately not. I think that this will cycle through the news, and people will be on to something else in a couple of weeks. I know that sounds pessimistic. But I think that's also a bit of reality that I've learned over the years trying to raise awareness about Syria. If I'm wrong, I will be pleasantly corrected. And I hope that this is a reminder for the world that when you abandon people, and you let them suffer for so long, it doesn't go away. It will come back up. And it's coming up now, you know, we're forced to look at these people who have been living in squalor for so long, and there has been no solution presented.
For instance, the Biden administration essentially has no policy on Syria, and it's frustrating. But as the Syrian American Council, we can be frustrated, but we can also just keep pushing, and keep organizing and keep talking with our governments so that we can advocate for them to make those changes. This certainly will be a moment where the U.S. government is listening. It's very important that the U.S. government send significant aid and heavy equipment. We have a presence there already in northern Syria, and we have equipment, but the aid isn't getting in right now. And that's one of the most important things right now for people to understand, is that there's a gateway called Bab al Hawa from southern Turkey into northern Syria. And the aid is not allowed to come through right now. For what reason, I don't know. Because dead bodies are coming through from Turkey to Syria, there are Syrian refugees being returned to Syria for burial. I've seen videos and reports of hundreds of bodies coming through today, but not the aid. So that's a strange dichotomy there.
So the world's eyes are on the situation. We're gonna have to look at what's become of that area in the last decade. Hopefully people will want to put the money in and the work in to help these people in a more substantial way going forward.
WSHU: To what extent can we in Connecticut, support those in Syria and Turkey? What can we do?
DC: Call your local representative and let them know that you want to send support to the area, you want the U.S. government to send aid. That's very important. I think people sometimes don't realize how important it is.
Secondly, hold a vigil. And when you hold a vigil, take photos and post them on social media. That's very effective. The people over there, when they see those pictures, it really provides them some hope and solidarity, and helps them to realize that they're not abandoned, and that the world cares for them. And that's worth more than people know.
Thirdly, send a donation to one of our trusted organizations. I can name a few. One would be the Syrian American Medical Society. Another one that I've worked closely with is called Med Global, they do great work.
