Dear Deeply Readers,

Welcome to the archives of Syria Deeply. While we paused regular publication of the site on May 15, 2018, and transitioned some of our coverage to Peacebuilding Deeply, we are happy to serve as an ongoing public resource on the Syrian conflict. We hope you’ll enjoy the reporting and analysis that was produced by our dedicated community of editors contributors.

We continue to produce events and special projects while we explore where the on-site journalism goes next. If you’d like to reach us with feedback or ideas for collaboration you can do so at [email protected].

‘We Are Waiting for Death’: Voices from Ghouta’s Underground Bunker

Tens of thousands of people have fled the eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus in recent weeks. Many of the hundreds of thousands who remain, however, are hiding in underground shelters, with little access to food, water and sunlight.

Written by Youmna al-Dimashqi Published on Read time Approx. 4 minutes
A group of children gather around a mat in an underground makeshift shelter in the Eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus. Akram Abou al-Foz

Ayad Saryoul has spent most of the past month in an underground shelter that he shares with his family and 40 other people. Sometimes spending 18 hours straight underground, he passes the time by counting the number of rockets and shells that fall on the besieged Eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus.

“There is nothing else to do here,” said the 27-year-old resident of Eastern Ghouta. “We are waiting for death to come at any moment. Either by way of shelling or disease.”

Hundreds of thousands of people have gone underground to take shelter from relentless government attacks on the last rebel enclave near the Syrian capital. Many are living in makeshift collective shelters or basements.

Since government forces stepped up attacks on February 18, more than 1,500 people have been killed and more than 45,000 people have been displaced from their homes. Prior to offensive, the United Nations refugee agency estimated that some 350,000 civilians were trapped in the area that has been under siege for more than four years.

Although largely safer than above ground shelters, makeshift bunkers are not impenetrable. Government airstrikes and artillery attacks have regularly killed civilians hiding underground. Most recently, 15 children and two women who were hiding in a school basement in the town of Arbin, were killed in government shelling on Monday. It took rescue workers more than two days to recover the corpses from under the rubble.

Syria Deeply spoke to a number of residents who have sought safety in bunkers and collective shelters. They describe dark, claustrophobic, humid and dingy spaces that sometimes accommodate up to 200 people. Saryoul has seen “little children clinging to the bodies of their parents” inside the shelters after airstrikes and mortar attacks.

Their stories shed light on the plight of those who remain in East Ghouta, which the U.N. has described as a “hell on earth.” But they show the resilience of residents who have survived these past years.

A man and a group of children coloring a paper cut-up of a sun in an underground shelter in the Eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus. (Akram Abou al-Foz)

Sharing and Storytelling

“The basement floor is filled with dirt. There are no toilets or any other facilities,” said Nivin al-Houtari, a 38-year-old mother of two, who lives in an underground shelter with her husband, children and some 30 other people. She noted that this number is relatively low as many shelters in East Ghouta host more than 100 people. Families separate their living spaces with cloth or curtains, she said.

There is a great deal of cooperation between the many families living in the tight quarters, especially in terms of cooking, sharing and distributing food, al-Houtari said. “Some families brought food supplies such as bulgur, rice or lentils, and they cook them inside the basement,” she said. “There is an understanding between us, because we are aware that this is an exceptional circumstance and we must bear with it.”

Al-Houtari said she never leaves the underground shelter. To pass the time, she gossips with other women in the bunker, or reads or tells stories to her children, who have no room to either play or breath while living underground. “Sometimes we tell them heroic stories about the triumph of good over evil, which they like and enjoy a lot,” she said. At other times, children are given coloring books and drawing material to help them pass the time, she said.

But al-Houtari said it’s still a challenge to try to keep the kids from running outside and to distract them from the sound of heavy shelling. It’s even more of challenge to try to explain to them why they have to live this way, she said. “My three-year-old daughter Maya always asks me: Why are we dying? Does the world hate us?” she said. “And I have no answer for her, because I can’t convey to her the abstract idea that we are dying for freedom.”

A group of children drawing and coloring in an underground bunker in the East Ghouta suburbs of Damascus. (Akram Abou al-Foz)

Love, Underground

Hussam, 27, lives in an underground bunker with 70 people, including eight different families. He does not have a family of his own, but he said the thought of his fiancee, who is now living outside Syria, keeps him going in these difficult times. “Dana always speaks to me when the shelling is violent, so I quickly text her “shelling” and she texts back “hide” and when the bombing ends, I text her again “I am fine” and she responds by telling me a joke,” he said.

Her support during these difficult times gives him a lot of “hope,” Hussam said. “I am living inside death itself. But I feel like I am the embodiment of life for someone else. This gives me the drive to persevere.”

When he is not texting his distant bride-to-be – and when the bombardments are relatively slower – he helps local groups deliver food and water to families in shelters. He said both are hard to come by, especially since it is often too dangerous to go above ground and that sometimes families can go up to 48 hours without any food.

Aid agencies have also warned of the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in East Ghouta. Andrej Mahecic, a spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency, told reporters on Tuesday that thousands of civilians in East Ghouta were “trapped and in dire need of aid.”

Living with limited access to food and water is difficult, but for Hussam, one of the hardest part of living in shelters is witnessing the suffering of children, he said. “I once asked one girl to draw a picture for me, so she drew a basement with many children in it,” he said. “It is very painful to see that the ceiling of our children’s imagination is just small breathing space.”

Suggest your story or issue.

Send

Share Your Story.

Have a story idea? Interested in adding your voice to our growing community?

Learn more