Unicef worried about 3.7 million Syrian children
Children gathered in a shelter run by Unicef, on February 13, 2023, in Aleppo.
REUTERS - FIRAS MAKDESI
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
Unicef warned on Thursday that 3.7 million children in areas affected by the February 6 earthquake in Syria were facing growing threats.
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With our correspondent in Beirut,
Paul Khalifeh
Catherine Russell, director general of Unicef in Syria, said the earthquakes and their aftershocks have destroyed homes, schools and playgrounds in Syria, and have "shattered any sense of security"
for
children and children. the “
most vulnerable
” families.
The director of Unicef went, among other places, to Aleppo, the second city in Syria under government control, hard hit by the earthquake.
She spoke of “
the increased threat of contagious, contact-borne and water-borne diseases
” to displaced populations.
Tens of thousands of families have lost their homes and are currently housed in schools and other reception centres.
An official from the Syrian Ministry of Education said nearly 700 schools were damaged by the quake, 15 of which were completely destroyed.
Forty schools were also damaged in the province of Idleb, controlled by pro-Turkish rebels and jihadists.
The senior Syrian official said 140 teachers were killed in the earthquake, including 122 in the coastal province of Latakia.
Despite the damage to school infrastructure, classes have resumed timidly in the affected provinces and the dates of the official patent and baccalaureate exams are maintained until further notice.
According to the UN, 8.8 million Syrians were affected by the earthquake, which killed more than 6,000 people in this country.
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