On February 7, 2021, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, with aftershocks spanning from Lebanon and Jordan to Israel and Egypt. This disaster has left 3,500 dead and many more injured, with calls to action coming from countries around the world. The horrendous force of the quake was caught on video by CNN reporter Yuksel Akalan, who described the scene as "entire families...all gone". The aftershock brought down a building right before his eyes, with a local resident emerging, "covered in dust". Leaving many with nowhere to go, Dr. Abdurrahman Alomar and his family were forced to take refuge in their car while they waited out the tremors.

The consequences of the earthquake are made much more harrowing due to the lack of resources in the region. A senior health adviser for the Syrian American Medical Society, Dr. Alomar relayed the difficulties in