Thousands of children feared dead in Türkiye, Syria quakes: UN

A woman and a child are seen at a displacement center in the Salah al-Deen neighborhood in Aleppo, northern Syria, on Feb. 7, 2023. (Str/Xinhua)

In Türkiye, 4.6 million children live in the 10 provinces hit by the earthquakes, whereas in Syria, 2.5 million children have been affected by the quakes.

GENEVA, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- As the focus in earthquake-hit Türkiye and Syria is shifting from rescue to recovery, a United Nations (UN) official on Tuesday said that thousands of children might have been killed in the disaster.

"Even without verified numbers, it is tragically clear that the number (of victims) would continue to grow," James Elder, spokesperson for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), told a press briefing here.

In Türkiye, 4.6 million children live in the 10 provinces hit by the earthquakes, and in Syria, 2.5 million children have been affected by the quakes.

"Children and families are in desperate need of additional support," he said. "Many local partner organizations' staff and first responders have been killed, injured, displaced, and their offices and equipment destroyed. Everyone, everywhere needed more support," he said.

A woman weeps beside earthquake debris in Antakya, Hatay province, Türkiye, on Feb. 11, 2023. (Xinhua/Shadati)

"Families are sleeping in the streets for fear of returning to their homes. This means tens of thousands of families are exposed to biting cold temperatures. The number of children reported to suffer from hypothermia and respiratory infections is increasing by the day," he added.

According to the UN official, countless children could have lost their parents in the devastating earthquakes.

He said that UNICEF had trained close to 70 trainers on psychological first aid, mobilized longer-term mental health and psychosocial support and provided hundreds of recreational kits to help children cope with the impact of the earthquakes.

Children are seen at a displacement center in the Salah al-Deen neighborhood in Aleppo, northern Syria, on Feb. 7, 2023. (Str/Xinhua)

In Syria, he said, children under the age of 12 knew nothing but conflict, violence or displacement. Some of them had been displaced six or seven times.

"More than 1.7 million registered refugees from Syria live in Türkiye's ten affected provinces, and an estimated 811,000 of them are children," he said, adding that "This is the international community's last chance to show solidarity with these millions of children."