After quake, Syrian schools silent as teachers, students perish

A general view shows the damage at kawkab al-Tofoula (Children's Planet) nursery, in the aftermath of an earthquake, in rebel-held town of Jandaris, Syria February 12, 2023. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

JANDARIS, Syria (Reuters) - An eerie silence lay over the courtyard of Ramadan al-Suleiman's nursery in northern Syria on Sunday as he picked his way through smashed cinderblocks, twisted metal and broken plastic swings.

The modest nursery in the town of Jandaris - about 70 km (44 miles) from the city of Aleppo - once hosted 100 toddlers, whose dusty pictures now lay strewn among the debris caused by Monday's devastating earthquake. Some of those children and teachers would not be coming back, Suleiman said.