Off the wire
• Mekong ministers gather in Cambodia for fighting human trafficking  • Cabinet sets deadlines for official documents' release  • New Zealand FM to discuss trade, UN issues in China  • Roundup: S.Korea's industrial output declines 0.6 pct in March  • News Analysis: Abe tests water for August WWII 70th anniversary speech in U.S. visit  • Venezuela's foreign currency reserves fall to 12 year low  • 1st LD: Japan's industrial output down 0.3 pct in March  • 3/4 Australians think needs to be done to reduce alcohol harms  • DPRK blasts Abe's remarks on "comfort women"  • Tokyo stocks plunge 1.9 pct by break after weak U.S. GDP data  
You are here: 　 Home

1.7 million Children of Nepal in need of immediate aid: UNICEF

Xinhua, April 30, 2015 Adjust font size:

Around 1.7 million children are now in urgent need of aid in the worst-hit areas by the massive earthquake in Nepal, according to UNICEF.

UNICEF revealed the figure as it launched a 50.35 million U.S. dollars appeal to get humanitarian assistance to children and their families amid growing risk of disease outbreaks.

The 7.9 magnitude earthquake has killed more than 5000 people and injured more than 10,000. It has also driven tens of thousands of people into open spaces and temporary camps in the Kathmandu valley and the rest of the worst-affected districts.

"The lives of so many children have been torn apart and they are in desperate need of life-saving support, including clean water, shelter and sanitation," said Tomoo Hozumi, UNICEF Nepal Representative.

"Without safe water supply, waterborne diseases remain huge risks for children. Many families are struggling simply to protect themselves from the sun and rain and we only expect needs to grow in the coming days as we receive more information from remote areas and the full scale of the disaster becomes more apparent," Hozumi added.

More than 80 percent of health facilities in the five most severely affected districts have been extensively damaged. Endi