UNICEF Warns: Afghan Children Bear the Brunt of Recent Earthquakes, Face Winter Threats

KABUL (Kokcha.News) —** The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has issued a stark warning that Afghan children are the most vulnerable victims of the recent earthquakes in eastern Afghanistan. With winter approaching, these children face severe risks of homelessness, hunger, and lack of access to healthcare services.

In a statement on Sunday, Tajuddin Oyewale, UNICEF’s representative in Afghanistan, said, “Time is running out. If immediate and coordinated humanitarian aid is not provided, the situation of affected children will turn into a life-threatening crisis.”

According to UNICEF, over 260,000 children have been directly impacted by the earthquakes and are in urgent need of food, shelter, clean water, and healthcare. This number includes children who have lost their families, whose schools and healthcare centers have been destroyed, or who are in remote and inaccessible areas.

UNICEF emphasized that a lack of financial resources, logistical challenges, and security tensions have severely limited humanitarian efforts, even as temperatures in the affected areas drop below freezing.

The agency highlighted that children in natural disasters are not only the most vulnerable group but also a symbol of the defenselessness of social systems. This crisis reveals the international community’s inability to respond to Afghanistan’s “structural vulnerability.”

The failure to allocate sufficient resources in a situation where earthquakes, poverty, and sanctions are simultaneously at play reflects a shift where humanity has become a political choice rather than a moral priority.