Attachments
A. SITUATION ANALYSIS
Description of the crisis
The devastating earthquakes that struck Syria and Turkey on February 6, 2023, had severe consequences for an already vulnerable population. Before the seismic events, more than four million people in northwest Syria, and 15.3 million people across Syria, were already in need of humanitarian aid, reflecting the severe protracted crisis affecting the population. After 12 years of conflict, nearly 9.5 million Syrians (44% of the population) were severely food insecure. (HNO 2023)
The earthquakes, measuring magnitudes of 7.8 and 7.5, caused severe damage in Aleppo, Latakia, Tartous, Hama, and Idlib governorates. Major infrastructure damage was observed in cities and rural areas across these regions. According to reports from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), the earthquake resulted in the tragic loss of 5,670 lives, with 11,774 individuals sustaining injuries. SARC estimated that over 8 million people have been directly affected by the event. The earthquake strained an already fragile infrastructure including water and sanitation plants and distribution networks, schools and healthcare systems. Hospitals struggled to provide adequate care due to electricity shortages, lack of medication, and adverse weather conditions. The acute watery diarrhea/cholera outbreak added to the burden and posed new risks, with collective centers prone to disease outbreaks.
During the reporting period, the situation was further exacerbated by high inflation and a decline in the value of the Syrian pound which has been devalued four times in 2023 and lost 53% of its value in one year. At the end of the third quarter of 2023, the national average price of a WFP standard reference food basket for a family of five reached SYP 928,587, in October 2023, 162 percent compared to a year earlier, and quadrupled within a two-year timeframe. Beyond the slide in the Syrian pound, cuts in fuel subsidies in recent months provided further inflationary pressures (WFP Syria Country Office, Market price watch bulletin, September 2023 issue 105).
The national average Minimum Expenditure Basket (MEB) for a household of five members reached SYP 2,277,793 in October 2023, marking a fourteenth consecutive monthly increase. The cost of living nearly doubled in the first ten months of 2023 and increased fourfold in two years (WFP, October 2023). At the same time, the increase in salaries has not kept pace with the inflation across all sectors and the purchasing power of an average monthly income has decreased significantly. The minimum wage constituted only eight percent of the MEB in October.
In June and July 2023, Homs, Hama, Lattakia, and Tartous areas, all affected by the earthquake, also witnessed large wildfires, the intensity and size of which in some areas led to the creation of their weather systems, generating pyro cumulonimbus clouds, trapping heat, and generating strong wind, in turn sparking further fires. These fires led to material and environmental damages, as homes and crops were burnt destroying the main source of livelihood of the population in the affected area. Additionally, a large part of the vegetation, forests, and natural reserves were also blazed. Upon the request from SARC, 500,000 CHF was allocated from the IFRC DREF in August to respond to the wildfires.
A water crisis has been building up in As-Sweida governorate over the last year. The main impact is a significant decrease in rainfall and snowfall which is one of the main sources for dam water collection. Lack of maintenance of water systems and spare parts led to a large number of wells being out of service (around 80%). Moreover, the excessive drilling of wells near the main water resource, uncontrolled land irrigation and illegal extraction exacerbated the water crisis in the district and resulted in a major, severe, or critical problem to meet water needs. In August, IFRC allocated 800,000 CHF from the DREF to address the acute maintenance and repair needs.
In September, around 7,000 families were displaced in Deir-ez-Zor from the east of the Euphrates River to the western areas under the control of the Syrian Government due to clashes between Syrian Democratic Forces and Tribes. SARC responded by delivering assistance to the displaced in several sectors including relief, shelter, first aid and healthcare, WASH, protection and legal services, both in collective centers and among host communities. SARC continues to deliver humanitarian assistance to some 5,000 families that remain displaced.
In October, the situation was rendered more tense in the Middle East region with the outburst of the conflict in Gaza. While the situation was extremely unpredictable in the first weeks of the conflict, the spill over into Syria has been mostly localized by the time of this update. Targeted strikes on the international airports in Damascus and Aleppo have disrupted cargo and passenger traffic and halted UN Humanitarian Air Service routes. Sporadic strikes in the South of the country and the Golan Heights by the Israeli Defence Forces continued. In addition, an increased number of strikes and different aggressive actions took place in various parts of the country including the Northeast, Northwest and Syrian desert.
The risk of spill over of the Gaza conflict into neighbouring countries saw the IFRC launch an Emergency Appeal to support the neighboring National Societies (Egyptian Red Crescent, Lebanese Red Cross, Jordanian Red Crescent and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent) in preparing and strengthening their response readiness to the potential escalation of hostilities in the region and subsequent humanitarian needs. According to the WFP, the regional uncertainty is likely to continue to destabilize the prices of basic commodities and services which are expected to continue to rise worsening the availability and access to the most vulnerable people.
All these back-to-back and relentless shocks make the context extremely challenging and rife with unpredictability. Resources are stretched and/or depleted, and the population in both earthquake-affected areas and the rest of the country is facing massive challenges at the economic, social, security, and coping levels. This also means that the emergency response continues to centre on the provision of humanitarian assistance even 9 months after the earthquake. Early recovery and recovery interventions have increased during the last months of the reporting period but can only be scaled up with lifesaving services running in parallel. As the winter period is approaching pre-crisis needs and challenges the Syrian population faces are compounding. With sub-zero temperatures expected in higher altitudes in the coming months, access to shelter, electricity, heating, food and water will become even more critical.
Compounding an already very challenging situation, during the reporting period several of SARC’s partners announced significant funding cuts for 2023/2024. As the largest humanitarian organisation in Syria, providing front-line assistance to vulnerable communities this has momentous challenges for SARC both in terms of addressing needs and also in its relationships and engagement with communities and families which will directly face these cuts. Despite the challenges outlined, SARC has been and continues to be at the forefront of addressing the urgent needs of the populations affected by the earthquake and several new and deteriorating pre-existing crises with funding from its partners.