UNICEF: 3.7 million children in Syria face catastrophic risks after earthquakes

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has warned that 3.7 million children in the affected areas in Syria face many increasing dangers, which may be catastrophic, after the devastating earthquake that struck the country, on the sixth of last February.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned Thursday that 3.7 million children in the affected areas in Syria face many increasing risks, which may be catastrophic, after the devastating earthquake that struck the country.

"Syria's children have already experienced indescribable horror and heartbreak," said Kathryn Russell, the organization's executive director, in a statement after a two-day visit to Syria.

"These earthquakes not only destroyed more homes, schools and children's play areas, but also shattered any sense of safety for many of the most vulnerable children and families," she added.

The earthquake that struck Syria and neighboring Turkey on the sixth of February killed more than fifty thousand people in the two countries, including nearly six thousand people in Syria.

It has been followed by aftershocks since then.

According to the organization, 3.7 million children in Syria face "many growing and potentially catastrophic risks."

According to the UN official, the psychological impact of earthquakes on children, the increasing risk of infectious diseases transmitted by contact and transmitted through water on displaced families, and the lack of access for the most vulnerable families to basic services due to 12 years of conflict, pose a risk of creating continuous and worsening disasters for affected children.

"Only providing immediate relief is not enough," she added, adding that "by providing essential services such as safe water, health care and psychosocial support, we can help children and families recover from the horrific experiences they have gone through so that they can begin to rebuild their lives." .

The earthquake caused massive destruction in large areas of the governorates of Aleppo (north), Idlib (northwest), Hama (center), Lattakia and Tartous (west), doubling the tragedies of a people who have been suffering for nearly 12 years from a devastating conflict that has claimed the lives of half a million people and caused extensive damage to infrastructure. Half of the population has been displaced inside and outside the country.

According to the United Nations, 8.8 million people in Syria were affected by the earthquake. Several schools in the affected areas have turned into shelters for residents whose homes were damaged or destroyed by the earthquake, which destroyed some infrastructure, especially water and sanitation services, which were mainly damaged by the years of war.

UNICEF previously identified among the immediate priorities "providing access to safe drinking water and sanitation services necessary to prevent the spread of diseases" such as cholera, which has been raging in Syria since September.