After the severe earthquake

The earthquake in Turkey and Syria has caused further serious damage to the Maydanki Dam near Afrin. “The dam, which is located close to Afrin, had already been damaged by Turkish air raids during the invasion of the Kurdish region – which was an internationally wrongful act,” stated Dr. Kamal Sido, Middle East Consultant of the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), in Göttingen on Wednesday. “Now, the disastrous earthquake has caused more cracks. The people in the Turkish-occupied region are living in fear that aftershocks or rainfall could cause the dam to break.”
The STP has photos that clearly show damages. Experts in Afrin – who wish to remain anonymous – have confirmed that the cracks in the dam embankment are a potential threat. “Following the Turkish invasion in March 2018, the Turkish armed forces and the Syrian Islamists had plundered the facilities at the dam to sell large quantities of metal as scrap. “Engineers who were responsible for maintenance work were either killed or forced to flee. Thus, it was not even possible to repair the new damages provisionally,” Sido added. Should the dam break, this would put hundreds of thousands of people in Afrin and the neighboring province of Hatay in Turkey in immediate danger. Hatay, which is predominantly inhabited by Arab Alevis, was hit hard by the earthquake as well.
The Maydanki Dam is located on the river Afrin, around 12 kilometers to the north-east of Afrin City. It is 73 meters high, 385 meters wide at its base, 980 meters long, and 10 meters wide at its peak at the top. Its maximum capacity is 230 million cubic meters of water. Due to the years-long drought and Turkey’s anti-Kurdish water policy, the dam is currently only half full.