After quake, Syrians lost outside aid. They’re working to help themselves.

For a full week, Thamar Abu Nayla and a group of fellow volunteers scrambled through the rubble of Jandaris, a town in northwest Syria shattered by the recent earthquakes, using the few tools they had: picks, shovels, and their bare hands.

“Jandaris is devastated,” says Mr. Abu Nayla, in a telephone interview. “All the buildings are destroyed. All the streets are destroyed.” Those who did survive, he says, were left facing subzero temperatures and a glacially slow flow of international aid.

“We didn’t ask for food aid or water. We wanted [equipment to] help save people in the first 48 hours,” Mr. Abu Nayla explains. “Those who did not