More than seven million children have been affected by the devastating earthquake and strong aftershock that followed in Turkey and Syria last week, the United Nations said Tuesday, raising concerns that “thousands” more could have died. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesman James told Elder to reporters in Geneva: “In Turkey, the total number of children living in ten provinces affected by two earthquakes was 4.6 million. 2.5 million children have been affected in Syria.”
On Tuesday, the World Health Organization deemed the quake, which has killed more than 35,000 people in Turkey and Syria, the “biggest natural disaster in a century” to hit a country in what it considers its European region.
“We are witnessing the largest natural disaster in the European office of the World Health Organization in a century, and we are still assessing its scale,” Hans Kluge, director of the European office of the organization, said during a press conference. The European Region, according to the divisions of the World Health Organization, includes 53 countries, including Turkey. As for Syria, it is located within the borders of the neighboring region of the eastern Mediterranean.
The death toll in the two countries has risen to more than 37,000 amid ongoing rescue efforts to find survivors despite waning hopes. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that more than 81,000 people were injured in the earthquake, and most of them left hospitals after receiving treatment. He also stressed that the earthquake once again showed the importance of international solidarity.
The Turkish President added, “I thank all the friendly and brotherly countries that have extended a helping hand and supported the relief effort in the face of the earthquake’s aftermath.”
And Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority announced that the country’s earthquake death toll had risen to 31,974, with the death toll across Syria at least 3,700. The White Helmets rescue organization and medical sources said the number of wounded across Syria has exceeded 14,750.
