Earthquakes, Civil War and the Things Before
Early on the morning of 9th November, as the Fajr morning call to prayer was ringing out, we experienced our first noticeable earthquake in Syria. Earthquakes are not uncommon here, and most are not felt at all. However there are still several measuring more than 4 in the Richter scale every year. This one had a magnitude somewhere around 5 and was experienced by us as an eerie shaking of our room which made the coat hangers in the wardrobe rattle, but nothing more dramatic. It was an interesting experience for us who have not lived in places where seismic activity is normal, but for our staff and many of the residents in Aleppo it was a scary reminder of the series of earthquakes measuring up to 7.8 that struck the city on 6th February this year. Whilst this one lasted only a few seconds, it was enough of a shock to many to encourage them to grab their children and run out into the street in case a stronger quake followed. Talking to our colleagues in the office later that morni