UNICEF estimates that more than seven million children are affected by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria

The agency fears that “thousands of children have died” and says that “it is tragically clear that the numbers are going to continue to rise.”

14 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has stressed this Tuesday that more than seven million children have been affected by the earthquakes last week in southern Turkey, near the border with Syria, and has stressed that both they and their families “desperately” need more support.

The organization’s spokesman, James Elder, has indicated that 4.6 million children reside in the ten Turkish provinces affected by the earthquakes, while 2.5 million minors are affected in the affected areas in Syria. “As families face the horrific and heartbreaking reality that the priority in Turkey and Syria is becoming more recovery than rescue, UNICEF fears that thousands of children have died. Even without verified figures, it is tragically clear that the numbers will continue to increase”, he said.

“Many members of our local partner organizations and first responders have been killed, injured or displaced, and their offices and equipment destroyed,” he lamented. “Everyone, everywhere, needs more support. More safe water. More heat. More shelter. More medicines. More funds,” Elder added during a press conference from the Swiss city of Geneva.

Thus, it has detailed that “families with children are sleeping in the streets, shopping centers, schools, mosques, bus stations and under bridges, and remain with their children outdoors for fear of returning home and not being able to assess the damage structure and the potential impact of aftershocks on their homes.

“This means that tens of thousands of families are therefore exposed to the elements at a time of year when temperatures are below freezing and snow and freezing rain are common. The numbers of children with hypothermia are increasing every day and with respiratory infections,” he said.

Elder has stressed that UNICEF is distributing drinking water, winter clothing and nutritional items in Syria, while in Turkey it has proceeded to distribute children’s winter clothing, hygiene kits for families, babies and mothers, and blankets. “UNICEF is also procuring sleeping bags, chargers and sleeping chairs in the ten affected provinces (in Turkey),” she wrote.

“Given the catastrophic and increasing number of fatalities, it is clear that many, many children will have lost their parents in these devastating earthquakes,” said Elder, who explained that UNICEF is coordinating with the Ministry of Family and Turkish Social Services to “help identify unaccompanied and separated children from their families and ensure their basic needs are met.”

“In addition, ten new hotlines have been launched for these children. Alongside these efforts, UNICEF is also working with partners to provide affected children with essential mental health and psychosocial support services. Many of them, especially in war-affected areas of Syria, are experiencing one irreversible trauma upon another,” he said.

On the other hand, he explained that “to rapidly expand the scope of psychosocial support for children, UNICEF has trained nearly 70 trainers of trainers in psychological first aid, while mobilizing longer-term psychosocial and mental health support. term and provided hundreds of recreational kits that will give tens of thousands of children items to help them cope with the impact of the earthquake through stimulation, learning and restoring a sense of normalcy.

The UNICEF spokesman also recalled “the unprecedented difficulties faced by children in Syria” and stressed that “all children under the age of twelve have only known conflict, violence and displacement”. “Some children have been displaced up to six or seven times,” he pointed out.

“More than 1.7 million registered refugees from Syria live in the ten affected provinces of Turkey and an estimated 811,000 of them are children. Years of violence, destruction and deteriorating economic conditions have made living conditions unbearable. This seems to be the last opportunity for the international community to show its solidarity with these millions of boys and girls,” he added.

The Turkish authorities have raised this Tuesday to about 32,000 deaths due to the earthquakes, a balance to which must be added 1,414 deaths in the areas controlled by the Syrian Government and about 2,300 in the areas in the hands of the rebels in the northwest of the country, according to data from the Syrian Civil Defense, known as the ‘white helmets’.