- UNICEF Appeals for Urgent Aid as 17,000 Children Require Immediate Assistance and Thousands Are Displaced
NUWAKOT, Nepal: Nepal’s devastating floods have triggered an escalating humanitarian crisis, with UNICEF issuing an urgent appeal for assistance after at least 17,000 children were identified as being in immediate need of humanitarian support.
The disaster has also caused widespread damage to the country’s education infrastructure. According to UNICEF, 18 schools have been destroyed and another 20 damaged, disrupting the education of thousands of children in affected communities.
Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said the number of people reported missing had risen sharply to nearly 2,000, underscoring the growing scale of the catastrophe.
Thousands Mobilised for Search and Rescue
Authorities have deployed 14,829 security personnel to support large-scale search and rescue operations across flood-hit areas.
Rescue teams are using drones to survey remote and dangerous locations that remain difficult or impossible to reach by ground, while personnel continue efforts to locate survivors and recover missing people.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) estimates that at least 93,000 people have been affected by the floods, with humanitarian assistance beginning to reach some survivors who have taken refuge in temporary shelters.
Entire Villages Swept Away
The devastation has been particularly severe in Nuwakot, one of the flood-affected districts closest to Kathmandu.
Residents and rescue workers described scenes of extraordinary destruction, with entire villages reportedly swept away within minutes by powerful floodwaters.
In the aftermath, communities have been left covered in thick layers of mud and sediment, while homes, infrastructure and essential services have been severely damaged.
Children Among the Most Vulnerable
Humanitarian agencies have warned that children face heightened risks following the disaster, including displacement, shortages of clean water and food, disrupted education and exposure to unsafe living conditions.
UNICEF’s appeal underscores the urgent need for safe drinking water, sanitation, healthcare, nutrition, child protection and emergency education services for children and families affected by the floods.
As search and rescue operations continue, authorities and humanitarian organisations are racing against time to reach isolated communities and provide life-saving assistance to thousands of people whose lives have been devastated by the disaster.
BY: The Times Union
