I am a Syrian journalist, living in northwest Syria. My work covers current affairs in northwest Syria, Idlib, and north Aleppo.

Over the past few days, and even now, I have worked on covering the diastrous earthquake that struck northern Aleppo and the Idlib countryside. I met with earthquake survivors, who I conducted video interviews with, and covered the search and rescue operations and the recovery of victims by the rescue teams and the Syrian Civil Defense.

My work has not changed very much, except for the fact that it was a bigger disaster than previous times. I was living in fear of the aftershocks that happened often.

Since the areas in which we work are disaster areas, women have been affected by the loss of shelter, including the loss of a breadwinner or family income, and there are women who have lost the privacy they had in their homes before they were destroyed. I saw “their hearts burning for their children”.

I believe that current priorities are emergency and urgent response, taking women’s needs into consideration. From northern Syria, I recommend that the international community and all responsible parties:

• Intervene urgently to provide shelter for thousands of families.
• Provide sustainable physical and mental healthcare programs.
• Provide services in a complete and equal manner, taking women’s needs into account. The aid that has been provided so far is insufficient, and people are still out in the open.
• Support media women and media activists, and women’s and feminist media initiatives, to ensure comprehensive and gender-sensitive coverage.