The Washington PostThe Washington Post

'I just want my mother': Syria, Turkey struggle to care for orphans after quakes

By Louisa Loveluck and Salwan Georges

15 Feb 2023 · 5 min read

Editor's Note

In Turkey and Syria, the unfathomable scale of suffering and death has left untold numbers of children traumatized and orphaned. The Post has a heartbreaking, on-the-ground report from Syria.

JINDERIS, Syria - In the days after the earthquakes, it was hard to tell which of the children here still had parents. As local officials tried to match survivors with their mothers and fathers, they found they had never known some of the families at all.

After 12 years of civil war, this pocket of northwest Syria is home to millions of people from across the country, their names and histories often obscured by displacement and isolation. As aid workers scoured hospitals for the missing, families hoped and prayed.

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