In a hospital in earthquake-hit northwest Syria, 8-year-old Hanaa retains asking for news of her household, unaware she is the only survivor amongst her instant relations.
Her father, mom and 4-year-old sister have been among the many almost 40,000 folks killed within the twin 7.7 and seven.6-magnitude quakes that struck Türkiye and Syria on Feb. 6.
After years of conflict and displacement in Syria, the catastrophe orphaned many youngsters when their households have been misplaced below the rubble.
“She keeps asking for her father, her mother and her sister,” stated Abdullah Sherif, Hanaa’s uncle, at Maarrat Misrine hospital in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province.
“We have not dared to tell her the truth yet.”
Hanaa was trapped for 33 hours below the rubble of her collapsed constructing within the border city of Harim, earlier than she was pulled out and rushed to the hospital about 25 kilometers (15 miles) away.
When she bought there, she was “in a critical condition,” her physician Bassel Staif stated. “She suffered severe dehydration, having been under the rubble without food or water and in the cold weather.”
Hanaa’s situation has since stabilized, and he or she generally smiles regardless of the accidents on her face.
But her left arm, which is in a forged, was crushed throughout the quake, Staif stated, noting that his staff is doing its greatest to reserve it.
“She has now left the intensive care unit, her condition is stable. But she is at risk of having an arm amputated.”
‘Trauma on high of trauma’
In the hospital room full of Valentine’s Day balloons, Hanaa’s uncle stays by her aspect. But he fears her situation will solely worsen when she learns of her household’s destiny.
The little lady has solely her grandparents and uncles to boost her on this opposition-held area, residence to some 4 million folks, a lot of them displaced from different elements of war-torn Syria.
Last week’s quake has affected greater than 7 million youngsters, together with 2.5 million in Syria alone, in keeping with James Elder, spokesman for the U.N. youngsters’s company UNICEF.
He says the catastrophe has piled extra distress on Syrian youngsters who’ve solely witnessed tragedy of their lives due to the conflict that broke out greater than a decade in the past.
Every youngster below the age of 12 “has known nothing but conflict, violence or displacement,” stated Elder. “Some youngsters have been displaced six or seven instances.
“For many of these children … this is trauma on top of trauma.”
Samah Hadid of the Norwegian Refugee Council has additionally warned that youngsters are at “grave psychological risk due to the scale of the shock.”
‘Only screams’
Three-year-old Arslan was the only survivor from his household after their constructing in Harim was certainly one of least 35 destroyed.
His uncle, Ezzat Hamdi, says rescuers saved digging for 3 days to search out the our bodies of Arslan’s father, mom and siblings.
“We found the father’s body hugging the boy,” stated Hamdi, 30, including that the mom’s physique was discovered 2 meters away.
The little boy has since been saved in intensive care, with Hamdi watching over him.
“The child’s lower limbs were crushed” and he suffered inner injury, stated physician Omar al-Ali of the kids’s hospital in Sarmada.
For Obada Zikra, a member of the White Helmets rescue group that operates in Syria’s rebel-held areas, the primary hours of the quake catastrophe have been probably the most agonizing.
“We could only hear the screams and moans of children,” he stated, noting the temporary bursts of pleasure each time rescuers discovered a toddler alive.
“We have pulled out many children who are still alive, but also dead ones,” he stated.
“The children of our region have lived through many tragedies. We hope that they will lead different lives… and enjoy the support that any child in the world gets.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com
