Children’s charity: 68,000 children urgently need help after Nepal earthquake 18 killed in attack on foreign military trainers in Mogadishu

According to the UN, 100 days after the major earthquake in Nepal, approximately 68,000 children need urgent help. Many of them spent a cold winter in emergency shelters and are still dependent on humanitarian aid to rebuild their lives, the UN children’s agency Unicef ​​said on Sunday.

“They are still dealing with the trauma of losing loved ones,” said Alice Akunga, the UNICEF representative in the poor Himalayan country. “Their development is at risk because they have lost their belongings, their homes and their schools, among other things.”

The November earthquake killed more than 150 people, half of them children, and injured dozens of others in one of the poorest areas of the country. According to measurements from the National Earthquake Monitoring Center (NEMRC), the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.4 and the event occurred on a Friday evening at 11:47 PM local time, when many people were sleeping. According to the Nepalese police, almost 4,000 buildings have been partially or completely destroyed.

The affected children and their families still need nutritious food, clean water, education and shelter, Akunga said, the statement said. “One of the best ways to rebuild children’s lives and bring back a sense of normalcy is to get them back to school so they can play, learn and heal with their friends.” According to the UN agency, almost 900 schools were completely or partially destroyed in the earthquake.

Unicef ​​requested $15.7 million in aid after the earthquake and says it has received seven percent of that from donors so far.

The quake caused the most deaths in Nepal since the massive earthquake in spring 2015, which killed about 9,000 people and left millions more homeless. The Himalayan region, in which Nepal is located, is extremely active geologically. (sda/dpa)