Follow the latest news on the earthquake in Turkey and Syria
At least 1.7 million children living in north-west Syria have been directly affected by the earthquake that rocked the area and neighbouring Turkey this week, Unicef has said.
They are among 4.4 million people who have been “stranded” in the area for the past several years due to the country’s civil war, said Carmen Monclus, Unicef's child protection specialist based in Turkey.
The UN child charity had already established a solid operation on Syria's side of the border, said Ms Monclus.
“We already had a very, very vulnerable population,” she told BBC Radio 4 on Friday.
“Just to give you a sense, there are 4.4 million people who have been kind of stranded in north-west Syria for the last years already. Out of this number, we knew we had 2.3 million children in those circumstances, which is a very significant number.
“Now, out of all these children, how many have been directly impacted? This is something we are not able to respond with conclusive figures yet.
“But we can certainly assert that at least 1.7 million of those children have been directly impacted, which is a very high number.”
She said family separations should be prevented “at all costs” and revealed that the organisation was offering mental health and psychosocial support following the powerful earthquake.
Unicef has built up a strong network of partners in the area during its time there.
“However, we need to understand our partners themselves, as well, are also an affected population and they are also having to look after their own families,” said Ms Monclus.
Dr Lynne Jones, a child psychiatrist and relief worker, has worked with young people in similar earthquake disaster zones, such as in Haiti.
Attending to their basic needs is of paramount importance, she said.
“And obviously doing that in a way that keeps them connected to somebody who can provide love and security is also a basic need,” she told Radio 4.
Supporting children through bereavement has to be approached differently, depending on their age.
“The first thing to say is there is no one way to grieve,” she said. “But it’s going to vary enormously depending on the child’s age, their temperament, who has been lost, the nature of the loss, these kind of things. So, understanding the approach will vary. And then approaching it in a developmentally sensitive way.”
The youngest children, under the age of two, will be upset, as in any separation, and require constant loving care.
Efforts following the earthquake in Turkey and Syria continue — in pictures
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The brother of a survivor Gokhan Ugurlu, 35, who was pulled out of the rubble in Hatay, Turkey, reacts as a rescuer looks on. Reuters -
A woman walks past flattened buildings in a street in Hatay province, Turkey. Reuters -
A member of the army stands amid rubble in Kahramanmaras, Turkey. Reuters -
A man reacts while sitting outside a tent of a temporary accommodation centre set up on a football pitch in Gaziantep, Turkey. Reuters -
Earthquake survivors walk on a street in Hatay, Turkey. Reuters -
A White Helmets volunteer holds a rescued cat in the rebel-held town of Jandaris, Syria. Reuters -
A Syrian boy, who lost his family in the deadly earthquake, stands amid the rubble of his family home in Jindayris. AFP -
Rescuers sit by a bonfire in Hatay, Turkey. AFP -
A Turkish soldier walks among destroyed buildings in Hatay. AFP -
Relatives of Palestinian doctor Yusuf Darabeh, who died when the earthquake hit Turkey, comfort each other. AP Photo -
People stand by a collapsed building in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey. AP Photo -
A child, injured in the earthquake, is treated at hospital in Bab Al Hawah, Syria. AP Photo -
Vehicles containing aid from Hashid Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) on the Iraqi side of the Iraq-Syria border. Reuters -
Rescuers carry Muhammed Alkanaas, 12, to an ambulance after five days under the rubble in Antakya, Turkey. AP -
Romanian firefighters load a Turkey-bound train with emergency aid near Bucharest. AP -
Collapsed buildings in Jandaris, Syria. Reuters -
Abdulkerim Nano, 67, is rescued after five days under the rubble in in Kahramanmaras, Turkey -
A Turkish rescue worker checks a collapsed building in Adiyaman. AP -
Rescuers in Adiyaman, Turkey. AP -
A resident in front of his collapsed building in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras. AFP -
Syrian refugees shelter in a public market in the Islahiye district of Gaziantep, Turkey. AP -
A family wait for the bodies of their relatives to be recovered in Antakya, Turkey. AP -
A woman plays with a sniffer dog in Antakya, Turkey. AP -
Collapsed buildings in Antakya, Turkey. AP -
A Syrian woman takes care of her nephew Hasan Goayid, eight, in Islahiye district, Gaziantep. AP -
A Syrian child in a tent in the Islahiye district. AP -
Collapsed buildings in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras. AFP -
Emirati rescuers sift through the rubble of a collapsed building in the regime-controlled town of Jableh, northwest of the Syrian capital. AFP -
Volunteers at the Emirates Red Crescent 'Bridges of Goodness' campaign at the South Hall, Dubai Exhibition Centre at Expo City. Leslie Pableo for The National -
Martin Griffiths, UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Co-ordinator, in Maras, Turkey. Reuters -
Rescuers give water to a dog after a rescue operation in Hatay, southern Turkey. AP -
A deadly earthquake struck southern Turkey and northern Syria on February 6. EPA -
Fissures from the earthquake have crumpled the highway near Islahiyeh in Southern Turkey. Matt Kynaston / The National -
A Kurdish charity's aid convoy enters Syria through the Bab Al Salama crossing with Turkey, in the northern province of Aleppo. AFP -
A rescuer with a sniffer dog searches in a destroyed building in Antakya, southern Turkey. AFP -
A makeshift camp erected in a stadium in the city of Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey. EPA -
A woman mourns Turkish Cypriot victims of the earthquake, during a funeral procession in the Turkish occupied area in north-east coastal city of Famagusta, Cyprus. AP -
Rescuers carry survivor Rabia Ofkeli, 27, from the rubble in Hatay, southern Turkey. Reuters -
Syrian President Bashar Al Assad visits Aleppo university hospital. Reuters -
Members of the Swiss rescue team with a four-month-old girl, Abir, who was pulled out from the rubble in Antakya. AFP -
Survivors at a hospital in Kahramanmaras, Turkey. Reuters -
Members of the White Helmets during the fifth day of rescue operations in Jandaris, Syria. Reuters -
Indonesian Muslims perform a prayer for the victims at Istiqlal grand mosque in Jakarta. EPA -
Emergency personnel conduct a rescue operation to save Melda, 16, from beneath the rubble of a collapsed building in Hatay, southern Turkey. AFP -
The earthquake caused a railbed overpass to collapse in Nurdagi, Turkey. AFP -
A framed picture on the cracked wall of a collapsed building in Kahramanmaras, south-eastern Turkey. EPA -
A coastal area of Iskenderun, Turkey, was flooded after the quake. Reuters -
A sheet of paper lies among the rubble in Elbistan. AP -
Relief supplies destined for earthquake survivors in Turkey, at a warehouse in Schoenefeld, near Berlin, Germany. AP -
Rescuers search for survivors in the rubble of collapsed buildings in Kahramanmaras, three days after the earthquake struck. AFP -
Rescuers with a child pulled out from under the rubble. Reuters -
Rescuers rest on top of rubble as an aircraft drops water over a fire at the port in the quake-stricken town of Iskenderun. Reuters -
A rescue worker in Kahramanmaras, three days after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck south-east Turkey. AFP -
People try to pull out a dog trapped beneath the rubble in Iskenderun, Turkey. Reuters -
Lorries carrying humanitarian aid wait at Bab Al Hawa crossing on the Turkey-Syria border. Reuters -
Syrians warm up by a fire outside a makeshift tent near the rebel-held town of Jindayris in Syria. AFP -
A dam on the Orontes river in Syria's rebel-held Idlib province collapsed after the quake, flooding the neighbourhood. AFP -
The sails of the Sydney Opera House lit with a black ribbon in remembrance and mourning of the earthquake victims. Getty -
Smoke billows amid an expanse of collapsed and damaged buildings in Kahramanmaras, Turkey. Reuters -
Dogs of the German International Search and Rescue team rest between operations in Kirikhan, Turkey. Reuters -
White Helmets volunteers rescue a child trapped beneath the rubble in Jandaris, Syria. Reuters -
People gather to collect food and humanitarian aid in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras, south-east Turkey. EPA -
The statue of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey, is surrounded by damaged buildings in Adiyaman province. AP -
A plane carrying humanitarian air sent for earthquake survivors lands in Damascus. Mahmoud Rida / The National -
Motorway fractured by earthquake causes car crash near Kahramanmaras, Turkey. Matt Kynaston / The National -
A tent camp has been set up at a stadium in south-eastern Turkish city of Kahramanmaras to shelter families whose homes were destroyed in the quake. AFP -
A displaced Syrian woman rests under a tree in a field on the outskirts of the rebel-held town of Jindayris. AFP
Those aged between three and five have more understanding. But do not always grasp that death is permanent, she said.
“So, you are going to explain it to them and they will ask again, you are going to explain and they will ask again. They may even think they are somehow magically responsible and that has to be addressed,” she said.
Sometimes parents or surviving relatives lie to comfort the child. But in the end there is no way around the truth, she said.
In Haiti, she worked with a five year old who survived nine days under the rubble before he was rescued. Of his family, only his uncle and two brothers had survived. He lost both parents and lay next to his dead mother under the rubble.
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“His uncle’s first response was to say 'your mother is in hospital',” said Dr Jones.
“You have got to tell the truth in a simple way that the child understands. You may have to do it repeatedly. And you can answer their questions honestly.
“And you give them as much information as they want. But you don’t ... push them to talk if they don’t want to but [must be] able to listen if they do. Those are really key recommendations.”
