Ghouta, Syria, might be a world away, but Ghouta.com is bringing Ghouta to the world. The website documents the Syrian regime’s siege of Eastern Ghouta from the end of 2013 until the present. There are tallies of people awaiting medical evacuation and people who have died while waiting for transport. The days under siege are also tracked. The latest reports challenge the imagination, leaving one searching for words.

More than 700 Syrians have been killed in aerial assaults that began Feb. 18. More than 4,000 were injured Feb. 18-27, according to international medical organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, which supported 13 local medical facilities, all of which have been hit in attacks. Residents suffer daily from barrel bombs dropped from helicopters along with missile strikes and ground offensives. Activists in Eastern Ghouta described the sky as the “biggest killer in Syria,” sending residents looking for shelter underground.

A suspected chlorine gas attack was reported the day after the UN Security Council unanimously called for a 30-day nationwide cease-fire. The regime of President Bashar al-Assad and its local and international allies have ignored the call, as has Turkey in Afrin. Since the beginning of the Syrian uprising in 2011, more than 465,000 people have died, and over 1 million have been injured.

During the last few months, determined individuals and organizations have worked to inform the outside world about daily life in besieged Eastern Ghouta. These include local activists, some of them working in local councils, as well as citizen journalists collaborating with local media centers and international outlets, together with civil society organizations concerned with women's empowerment, child care, relief and skills training.