UNICEF launches US$ 20 million appeal to support 96,000 children affected by recent earthquakes in western Afghanistan

Over the next three months, life-saving humanitarian assistance will reach over 200,000 people – including 96,000 children – living in the most devastated and vulnerable areas of Herat province.

(thevalleygraph.com) KABUL– Over 90 per cent of those reported killed in Afghanistan’s recent earthquakes are women and children. In Zinda Jan district alone, over 11,500 people saw their homes completely flattened.

With two 6.3-magnitude quakes shaking the region over just five days, and over 1,000 people killed[1], there are thousands more in need of urgent, life-saving assistance.

UNICEF launched a funding appeal on Wednesday for an initial US$ 20 million, which includes:

• First aid, emergency and trauma care for newborns, children, adolescents, and women in both urban health facilities and through mobile health teams.
• Oral rehydration points to prevent or respond to outbreaks of acute watery diarrhoea, exacerbated by damaged or destroyed water systems.
• Rehabilitating WASH facilities in schools and healthcare facilities.
• Screening and treating children affected by malnutrition.
• Family hygiene kits, containing bars of soap, laundry and bathing soap, and other personal hygiene items. Alongside hygiene promotion, this will also mitigate the risk of disease outbreaks.
• Cash assistance for 1,400 households in Zinda Jan, the most affected district in Herat province.
• Psychosocial support for traumatized children and their parents, through newly established child-friendly spaces, and increasing the number of social workers.
• Temporary learning spaces to ensure education can continue while UNICEF conducts assessments on damaged school buildings.

With winter approaching and temperatures expected to drop well below freezing, UNICEF is extremely concerned about children and their well-being in the next few months.

“Even before the earthquake, these communities were already suffering the effects of conflict and insecurity, migration, drought, displacement, and poverty,” says Rushnan Murtaza, acting UNICEF Representative in Afghanistan. “These deprivations have now collided, creating an unprecedented humanitarian emergency for children. UNICEF and our partners have been on the ground since day one, providing life-saving assistance for children, but we need additional support to bring children the healthcare, protection, and clean water they desperately need.”

Funding through this appeal will allow UNICEF to implement the 3-month Earthquake Response Plan targeting 200,000 people, including 96,000 children in the most affected districts.