KUALA LUMPUR: Rasha Rashed Salo flashes a huge smile every now and then at her students during Arabic lessons at a primary school for refugee children in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur.
Deep down, however, the 37-year-old Syrian refugee is only trying to put on a brave face as she worries for family members who were caught in a deadly earthquake that ravaged parts of northern Syria and southern Türkiye.
“Already, people were without food before this. Now they have lost their homes and everything else,” the volunteer teacher told CNA on Thursday (Sep 9).
Mdm Rasha, who has been in Malaysia since 2015 said that several of her family members live in Aleppo, Syria and in Gaziantep, Turkey.
Both places were among those badly affected by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake on Monday and its subsequent aftershocks.
Mdm Rasha said that in Türkiye, the wife of her elderly uncle injured her hand badly while a cousin’s husband had his leg crushed by falling debris.
The cold weather has made things worse, hampering the movement of her loved ones in Türkiye who are now forced to live in a crowded tent as their homes were badly damaged.
Mdm Rasha said that they are without electricity, clothes and water while the Internet connection is very unreliable.
“Because of the war, they lost everything when they ran away from Syria to Turkey. Now they have lost everything again,” said Mdm Rasha whose three children are together with her in Malaysia.