Abdullah Al Mohammed sits with his daughter Salwa at their home in Sarmada, a town in Syria's last rebel pocket in the Idlib province, in 2020. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — Almost three years ago, then 3-year-old Salwa was in Idlib, Syria, and bombs were being dropped all around her. To help his daughter cope, her father Abdullah Al Mohammed told her to laugh them off the same way they would do with fireworks.
Footage of her quickly went viral online. News of Salwa’s story made headlines around the world back in 2020, and the family were eventually rescued and relocated to Turkey, where they settled in Antakya (Antioch).
However, in the wake of the disastrous earthquake on Monday night followed by multiple aftershocks, Salwa’s family had lost their home and were having trouble locating shelter, her father, Abdullah, told L’Orient Today over the phone on Sunday.
The 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck southern Turkey in the early hours of Monday morning virtually destroyed the entirety of the historic city of Antakya. After fleeing for their lives in 2020, the family now finds itself in a grim situation. To add further agony, Salwa’s mother is pregnant.
Abdullah described how the family was asleep at their home when disaster struck and their entire building collapsed. Miraculously, they all survived, he said, but with some injuries. In the wake of the quake, the family left Antakya for Mersin, where they are now looking for a place to rent.
“Living through almost 10 years of civil war in Syria gave us the alertness to get out as soon as things went bad,” Abduallah recounted over the phone.
Aside from the difficulty of locating shelter, Abdullah told L’Orient Today that following the earthquake, landlords are hiking prices, meaning “all the rents are triple what they were, not to mention that the landlord wants three months upfront and insurance.”
He says the cheapest studio he could find for his family costs 10,000 Turkish lira per month to rent and is far from ideal in terms of size and amenities. Out of a job due to the horrific earthquake, Abduallah is unable to secure the rent and is relying on donations and help from family for support.
For now, they have managed to find temporary shelter in a studio apartment. Mohammed does not have money to keep them there, and he says he has told the landlord that he needs a few days to get the money together.
After escaping bombing in Idlib, Salwa, who today is five years old, is now on the brink of homelessness in the Turkish city of Mersin.