UNICEF SAYS 16 MILLION CHILDREN AFFECTED BY FLOOD IN ASIA, NEED LIFE-SAVING SUPPORT

NEW YORK – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said that an estimated 16 million children are in urgent need of life-saving support as torrential rains and catastrophic flooding sweeps through, Nepal, India and Bangladesh.

“Millions of children have seen their lives swept away by these devastating floods. Children have lost their homes, schools and even friends and loved ones. There is a danger the worst could still be to come as rains continue and flood waters move south,” said Jean Gough, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia.

UNICEF esrimated that since mid-August, at least 1,288 deaths have been reported dead with over 45 million people estimated to have been affected by the flood.

“Massive damage to school infrastructure and supplies also mean hundreds of thousands of children may miss weeks or months of school,” said Gough. “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.”

In Bangladesh alone, more than 8 million people have been affected by flooding, including about 3 million children. An estimated 696,169 houses have been damaged or destroyed and 2,292 primary and community schools have been damaged by high water. There have already been more than 13,035 cases of water-borne diseases in the country.

In Nepal, 1.7 million people, including 680,000 children, have been affected with 352,738 displaced from their homes. More than 185,126 homes have been damaged or destroyed in addition to 1,958 schools, affecting the education of 253,605 children.

In India, four states in northern India have been extensively affected by the flooding, affecting over 31 million people including 12.33 million children. Some 805,183 houses are either partially or fully damaged and 15,455 schools have been damaged, disrupting the education of nearly one million students. Further heavy rains in Mumbai resulted in at least five deaths by drowning and three people including two children died due to house collapse, UNICEF has said.