Jandaris, Syria – The earthquakes that struck northwestern Syria and southern Turkey prompted extreme injury, not solely to residential buildings however to the financial sector as properly.
With many industrial and industrial amenities lowered to rubble, northwest Syria has witnessed seen stagnation in its industrial sector, together with a steep enhance in costs for fundamental items.
The scenario was exacerbated by a halt to the transport of products throughout the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, the principle financial outlet for the area, within the first days after the earthquake.
Mahmoud Joulaq, a bakery supervisor in Jandaris, informed Al Jazeera on Wednesday that the quake-stricken areas of northwestern Syria at the moment are dealing with a bread disaster after bakeries closed down and the import of flour from throughout the border in Turkey got here to a halt.
Joulaq recounts that when the earthquake hit, all his workers on the bakery rapidly left to test on their households.
“We had been pressured to close down till the following morning, when solely two different workers returned. The remainder had been attempting to drag their households out from beneath the rubble,” Joulaq mentioned.
“However we had to return to working, regardless of not having sufficient employees, as a result of most bakeries within the city had been burned or destroyed,” Joulaq mentioned, explaining that the bakery’s manufacturing capability immediately shrunk.
Within the first few days after the quake, the bakery used flour saved in its warehouses, however that rapidly ran out.
The roads resulting in Bab al-Hawa and Bab al-Salama, two crossings alongside the Syria-Turkey border, had been reduce off due injury brought on by the quakes, stopping the transport of flour and uncooked supplies into Jandaris.
The primary batch of flour to reach within the bakery because the quake got here seven days later, however by then costs had soared.
“The costs of our uncooked supplies have elevated by 20 %, particularly the flour, yeast and gas,” mentioned Joulaq. “Earlier than the earthquake, we had been producing about 3,500 luggage of bread each day. However right now, our most manufacturing capability is 1,500.”
Like Joulaq, Omran Zaarour, a meals retailer proprietor residing in Jindaras after being displaced from Aleppo, mentioned the earthquake has value them an incredible deal.
“On a industrial degree, we have misplaced rather a lot. Destruction to our warehouses broken our saved items,” mentioned Zaarour.
He mentioned that earlier than the quake, 80 % of all foodstuff in northwestern Syria got here via the border crossings with Turkey. With the quake inflicting a depletion of fundamental items in the marketplace, there was a pointy rise within the costs of alternate options.
Northwestern Syria’s lifeline
Based on Mazen Alloush, director of media and public relations on the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, no industrial items nor support entered northwestern Syria via the crossing for per week after the earthquakes struck Turkey and Syria.
“Throughout this week, we developed a scarcity in sure items on the markets, particularly greens, fruit, and gas,” Alloush mentioned.
Considering that the border would stay closed to industrial vehicles, some individuals rushed to hoard commodities and lift their costs. This prompted the border administration to push for the resumption of business transport, he mentioned.
“In 2022, roughly 75,000 industrial vehicles entered northern Syria via the Bab al-Hawa crossing, along with the same variety of export vehicles that went to Turkey,” Alloush mentioned.
debilitating results
Based on Hayan Hababa, an economist in Idlib, pure disasters have a debilitating impact on a rustic’s financial sector.
“For corporations and factories, these disasters destroy fastened and tangible belongings equivalent to actual property and equipment, along with human capital. This results in a deterioration within the productive capability of those amenities,” Hababa mentioned.
“These results could also be deadly for some corporations, resulting in their closure,” he added.
