Saturday, September 2, 2017

Flooding in Nepal affecting 680k children: UNICEF

About 1.7 million people, including 680,000 children, have been affected with 352,738 displaced from their homes and are in urgent need of life-saving support due to 'catastrophic' flooding in Nepal, according to a UN agency said.
Likewise, more than 185,126 homes have been damaged or destroyed in addition to 1,958 schools, affecting the education of 253,605 children in Nepal, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said.
About 16 million children across India, Bangladesh and Nepal are in urgent need of life-saving support due to 'catastrophic' flooding in the three South Asian countries. "Millions of children have seen their lives swept away by these devastating floods" said Jean Gough, UNICEF regional director for South Asia. "Children have lost their homes, schools and even friends and loved ones," she said, adding that there is a danger the worst could still be to come as rains continue and flood waters move south.
Weeks of torrential monsoon rains and catastrophic flooding in Nepal, India, and Bangladesh have devastated the lives of millions of children and families. UNICEF estimates that almost 16 million children and their families are in urgent need of life-saving support.
Many areas remain inaccessible due to damage to roads, bridges, railways and airports. The most urgent needs for children are clean water, hygiene supplies to prevent the spread of disease, food supplies and safe places in evacuation centres for children to play, the UN agency said.
The UNICEF is on the ground working in close coordination with respective governments and humanitarian partners from three countries to scale up its responses and respond to immediate needs of affected children and their families.
"Massive damage to school infrastructure and supplies also mean hundreds of thousands of children may miss weeks or months of school" Gough said, adding that getting children back into school is absolutely critical in establishing a sense of stability for children during times of crisis and provides a sense of normality when everything else is being turned upside down.

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