Earthquake in Syria | Victims buried in agricultural land in Jableh

(Jableh) In the peaceful coastal town of Jableh in Syria, the dead are now buried on agricultural land: the local cemetery is no longer sufficient to accommodate the victims of the deadly earthquake.

“We couldn’t help the living, we must at least honor the dead,” said Mohammad Daya, 47, present when new bodies arrived on his land where he planted tomatoes and peppers.

White tombstones, bearing names hastily handwritten by relatives of the victims, now line this patch of land, as a bulldozer digs fresh graves.

The earthquake that struck Syria and neighboring Turkey on Monday killed more than 21,000 people, including more than 33,000 in Syria.

The province of Latakia on the Mediterranean coast, of which Jableh is a part, paid a heavy price: at least 506 people were killed and 792 injured, according to local authorities.

More than a hundred buildings have collapsed in this province, controlled by the Syrian government.

“I would never have expected my land to become a cemetery,” says Mohammad Daya, his eyes red from crying, who says he is ready to give another field if necessary.

Near this improvised cemetery, in rue Rihaoui, dozens of people anxiously await news of their loved ones still trapped under the rubble.

They sleep in the open despite the cold and say prayers, hoping for a miracle as the chances of finding survivors dwindle.

“The Last Hours”

“These are the last hours […] we try to work as quickly as we can to be able to find survivors before they breathe their last,” Syrian Civil Defense official Jalal Daoud told AFP.

The milestone of 72 hours, a crucial time to find survivors under the rubble according to experts, has now passed.

Fifteen people are still trapped under the rubble of a building on this street, according to their relatives, while nine survivors and more than 20 bodies have already been removed.

“The building is in pieces, it’s like a cookie,” said a Lebanese rescuer, Ali Safieddine, who came with comrades from neighboring Lebanon to help the rescuers.

For lack of sophisticated means, “we are crying out to find out if there are any survivors”, but there is no response, he adds, as bulldozers clear blocks of cement.

Relatives of people trapped under the rubble help rescuers dig, using pots and other kitchen utensils.

Lebanese rescuers extricate a body from the rubble, and relatives come running, bursting into tears when they recognize one of their own.

Rescuers and Russian soldiers are also on the scene and contribute, with more sophisticated means, to the rescue operations in one of the six buildings where the work continues in Jableh.

The Russian base at Hmeimim is only five kilometers from the city. Russia, one of President Bashar al-Assad’s main allies, also maintains a naval base in Tartous, on the Mediterranean coast, about sixty kilometers further south.

Jableh has been relatively spared Syria’s soon-to-be-twelfth-year civil war, but has had its share of violence, attacks and sons killed in action, including alongside government forces.

Near one of the ruined buildings, Adam Chaabo waits for members of his family to be pulled from the rubble, one by one.

“They have already taken out the father, the mother, the sister, all dead, we are waiting for the son, Joud,” he said.

“We thought we were done with mass burials, now that the fighting has died down. But death returned to Jableh”.