Two months after two devastating earthquakes hit Türkiye and northern Syria, 2.5 million children in Türkiye remain in need of humanitarian support and are at risk of falling into poverty, child labour or child marriage, UNICEF warned today.
“Children had their lives turned upside down by the earthquakes, and while the humanitarian response was swift and significant, the reality is that the immediate futures of millions of children remain uncertain, with families’ ability to begin picking up the pieces of their lives severely hampered,” said Regina De Dominicis, UNICEF Representative in Türkiye.
“More support is vital to ensure children are protected and their needs are met as a central part of the recovery.”, she added
As part of the immediate response, UNICEF has worked closely with partners to prevent family separation and support reunification and reached more than 149,000 children and caregivers with psychosocial support. These efforts must continue and child protection services must be maintained without interruption.
UNICEF is also providing support with the provision of vaccines including for polio (to cover 360,000 children) and for diphtheria and tetanus (to cover more than 283,000 children). UNICEF is also providing additional medical equipment and supplies.
More than 390,000 people have been given hygiene kits, winter clothes, electrical heaters and blankets. Access to safe and clean water also remains a major concern while damaged water networks are repaired.
UNICEF has delivered water to thousands of people and is quickly scaling up this work with partners.
The earthquakes impacted the lives of nearly four million children enrolled in school, including 350,000 refugee and migrant children. Nearly 1.5 million children have resumed their education in earthquake-affected areas, with another 250,000 children continuing their education after relocating elsewhere in the country.
However, many others have not yet regained full access to learning, with formal schooling in the most affected provinces still reopening.
Source: Bahrain News Agency
