Syrian toddler survives quake, but mother and siblings perish

Raghad Ismail, the Syrian toddler who was rescued from rubble of a collapsed building following an earthquake, sits at her uncle’s home, in rebel-held Azaz, Syria February 6, 2023. (REUTERS/Mahmoud Hassano)

Ismail, 18 months old, ate a piece of bread as she sat on cushions on the ground under a blanket later in the day, a heater helping shield her from the winter cold.

“The father is feared to have his back broken, his young daughter is fine. His pregnant wife, his five-year-old daughter and his four-year-old son have all been killed,” the uncle who gave his name as Abu Hussam told Reuters.

Abu Hussam said another family in the building, a mother and three children, had been rescued.

Ismail’s family were displaced from the town of Morek during Syria’s 11-year-long war. Azaz, a town near the Turkish border, is held by the opposition to President Bashar al-Assad.

The earthquake has killed some 430 people in rebel-held areas of Syria, in addition at least 530 people in government-held parts of the country and more than 1,600 in Turkey.

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