More than 115 Syrian schools have been destroyed by the earthquake.
Jandaris, Syria:
An eerie silence hung over the courtyard of Ramzan al-Suleiman’s nursery in northern Syria on Sunday as he picked his way through swings of cinderblocks, twisted metal and broken plastic.
The modest nursery in the town of Jandaris – about 70 km (44 miles) from Aleppo city – once hosted 100 children whose dusty photos now lie in rubble in the wake of Monday’s devastating earthquake. Suleman said some of those children and teachers would not return.
“We lost two female teachers from a significant cadre at the school. We lost seven or eight students that we know of,” he told Reuters.
They were among more than 2,600 people reported killed so far in the earthquake that struck opposition-held parts of northern Syria. A total of over 3,500 were killed across Syria and around 30,000 in Turkey.
Children’s education in Syria was already badly affected by the ongoing war since 2011. For years, schools were regularly closed due to fighting, mortar fire by rebel groups or airstrikes by the Syrian government or Russia.
The earthquake destroyed more than 115 schools in Syria and damaged hundreds more, according to a UN update published on Saturday.
More than 100 others were being used as temporary shelters to host thousands of people displaced by the quake, causing apartment blocks and even small rural houses to collapse on the heads of residents.
Suleman is trying to track down some nursery children whose families he hasn’t heard from.
“I went to buildings where I know some students live – and 90% of them were destroyed. I suspect some students are dead because we can’t reach their families at all,” he said.
Jandaris was particularly devastated, with many concrete buildings being pulverized.
Rescuers across Syria, including in the north, are pulling young children out from under the rubble – some of them miraculously still alive nearly a week after the quake, but orphaned.
Others didn’t make it.
Mohammad Hasan said he still did not know what happened to the friends and classmates of his seven-year-old daughter, Lafeen.
“We asked around and found out that one of his teachers died, may his soul rest in peace,” Hassan told Reuters as Laffin played quietly on his lap.
“She’s shocked, she asks me to go see if anything happened to the kindergarten. I’m telling her nothing happened and I’ll take you there after it reopens.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
featured video of the day
Turkey earthquake death toll tops 28,000, UN relief chief says count will be “double or higher”