A month after the earthquake in the region, the situation in north-west Syria is still dramatic, according to the head of operations of the aid organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF). "It's still chaotic. We're still in the phase of chasing needs," said Yasser Kamalidin, who heads MSF's Syria mission. The current help for those affected is "completely disproportionate to the requirements on site," Kamalidin told the dpa.

On February 6, two earthquakes of magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 shook southeast Turkey and northwest Syria. A total of more than 50,000 fatalities have been reported so far.

The conditions in north-west Syria were already catastrophic before the tremors because of the civil war in the country. Before that, 2.9 million displaced people lived in the region, 1.8 million of them in refugee camps. An estimated 11,000 people were left homeless by the tremors in the northwest. Many of them are now trying to stay in the existing camps, too, Kamalidin said.

Northwest Syria is almost completely cut off from the rest of the country. Before the earthquake, international aid only reached the rebel-controlled areas through one border crossing, temporarily there were three crossings altogether. So far, about 580 trucks have made it to the northwest since the tremors.