Syrian refugees return home from Turkey after quake devastation

Bab al-Hawa, Syria – Hundreds of Syrian refugees in Turkey who survived last week’s earthquakes are returning to their war-torn homeland after once again losing everything.

Turkish authorities have announced the opening of border crossings for Syrians after the February 6 quakes, which killed tens of thousands of people.

Mohamad al-Sawad, 69, is a refugee from Halfaya in the northern Syrian countryside. He has been living in the town of Belen for 11 years near the city of Iskenderun in Turkey’s Hatay province.

Al Jazeera spoke to him as he entered Syria through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing after he was left stranded in Turkey following the deadly temblor.

“On the day of the earthquake, … the building began to shake violently, and the electricity was cut off, which made us struggle a lot to reach the door of the house because of the darkness,” al-Sawad said.

He stayed for two days sleeping in the cold and rain with his family on farmland near Belen. After that, he and about 3,000 other people moved to one of the shelters Turkish authorities opened for survivors who have lost their homes.

“I entered Syria today, where I can live with relatives and console my friends who lost family members in the earthquake,” al-Sawad said.