Removing Earthquake Debris From Jandares

Since the earthquake of February 6, 2023, the Syria Civil Defence teams, known as the “White Helmets,” have removed debris from 34 residential areas that were completely destroyed in Jandares, a city in the Afrin region of north-west of Aleppo, which is under the control of the opposition’s Syrian Interim Government (SIG). To date, the teams have cleared approximately 370,000 cubic metres of debris from the city, relying on funding from international donors, non-governmental organisations, and donations.

Jandares was almost entirely destroyed by the earthquake, resulting in the deaths of around 800 people due to the complete collapse of nearly 278 buildings and the partial collapse of more than 1,100 buildings. Despite a year and a half having passed since the earthquake, the process of demolishing damaged buildings that are at risk of collapse is still ongoing.

According to The Syria Report’s correspondent, the removal of building debris has occurred in two phases. The first phase involved buildings that collapsed completely during the earthquake and were removed using heavy equipment from the Civil Defence. The exact number of housing units removed during this phase is unknown due to their destruction and the intermingling of debris, as most of the collapsed buildings were multi-storey with multiple residences. In the first days following the earthquake, property owners manually retrieved some of their belongings. Subsequently, security forces cordoned off debris sites to document found items. During the debris removal, initial sorting took place on-site, and some intact personal belongings were extracted. Security forces requested property owners to provide documents proving their ownership of the demolished properties or witness testimonies confirming their residence at the collapsed buildings before the earthquake. After that, they had to provide a detailed description of their belongings. During the debris removal, security forces recorded the found items and handed them over to the owners at the police station, after verifying their ownership, in the presence of representatives from the Jandares local council.

Regarding the debris, some property owners submitted requests to the Jandares local council to move the debris from their homes, at their own expense, to private land they own elsewhere, to reuse it for building new homes or preparing the land for tent installation. The Jandares council required owners of completely collapsed buildings and their tenants to submit requests to remove their building debris by March 10, 2023. The council then began the removal process, for both registered and unregistered debris, in collaboration with civil defence, to locations near the Afrin River and surrounding some public roads for expansion purposes. The removal process was supervised by the security forces, along with the civilian police, to ensure the ownership of the debris and document the removal process.

The second phase followed the demolition of damaged buildings that were at risk of collapse or posed a danger to their inhabitants. These demolitions were carried out based on reports from the Public Safety Committee and the local council. Heavy machinery was used in non-hazardous areas after securing the surroundings, while manual equipment was used for buildings whose demolition might damage neighbouring structures. Manual demolition can take several months.

In both phases, the initial sorting of debris takes place on-site, where iron and metals are extracted. This sorting is supervised by the local council and the property owners. The remaining solid debris and concrete blocks are then transported to designated locations, where civil defence teams crush them using specialised equipment. The crushed material is turned into gravel, which can be reused for pre-foundation layers of roads in camps and residential areas, according to needs.

The Jandares local council shares the proceeds from the extracted rebar equally with the property owner if they are present. If no owner is known, the local council keeps all the proceeds. In both cases, the local council organises public auctions to sell the iron. The price of extracted iron has reached around USD 250 per ton. The local council’s share of the proceeds is used as revenue for the earthquake damage removal fund, which finances employee salaries and supports the work of engineering and technical committees dealing with the earthquake aftermath.