Publication Date: 2023/10/12

KABUL, 12 October 2023 – 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.

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 More photos and videos available here.

 About UNICEF 

 UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone. 

 For more information about UNICEF and its work for children in Afghanistan, visit https://www.unicef.org/afghanistan/

  For more information, please contact:  

  Daniel Timme, UNICEF Afghanistan, +93 79 998 7110, dtimme@unicef.org

Sabrina Sidhu, UNICEF South Asia, +919818717522, ssidhu@unicef.org

Ricardo Pires, UNICEF New York, rpires@unicef.org, +1 917 631 1226

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About UNICEF

UNICEF is the world’s leading humanitarian organization focused on children. We work in the most challenging areas to provide protection, healthcare and immunizations, education, safe water and sanitation and nutrition. As part of the United Nations, our unrivaled reach spans more than 190 countries and territories, ensuring we are on the ground to help the most disadvantaged children. While part of the UN system, UNICEF relies entirely on voluntary donations to finance our life-saving work. Please visit unicef.ca and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

For further information please contact:

Media@unicef.ca