Death toll has passed 5,000 with more than 25 thousand injured after a powerful 7.8 earthquake hit Turkey and Syria yesterday, Monday.
Local emergency rescuers in both countries have said that toll is likely to rise as more people are still under the rubble.
Thousands of homes are likely to have been destroyed, displacing families and exposing them to the elements at a time of year when temperatures regularly drop below freezing and snow and freezing rain are common.
Heavy snowstorms have also recently hit parts of Syria and Türkiye, with further sub-zero temperatures forecasted.
It is likely that schools, hospitals and other medical and educational facilities will have been damaged or destroyed by the quakes, further impacting children.
Potential damage to roads and critical infrastructure will also complicate search and rescue efforts and the wider humanitarian response.
Children in Syria continue to face one of the most complex humanitarian situations in the world.
A worsening economic crisis, continued localized hostilities after more than a decade of grinding conflict, mass displacement and devastated public infrastructure have left two-thirds of the population in need of assistance.
Food insecurity, reliance on unreliable and alternative water sources protection concerns, high levels of school dropouts are acute.
Waterborne diseases pose another deadly threat to children and families affected. In Syria, a cholera outbreak declared on 10 September 2022 quickly spread across the country, with children especially vulnerable.
The quake, one of the strongest to hit the region in more than 100 years of records, struck 23 kilometers (14.2 miles) east of Nurdagi, Gaziantep province, at a depth of 24.1 kilometers (14.9 miles), the US Geological Survey said.
