Children and families in Central Asia and the South Caucasus are at serious risk from a variety of catastrophes, including earthquakes, wildfires, floods, conflict, and displacement, a new report states.
Up to 500,000 people in metropolitan areas could be impacted by earthquakes in Central Asia.
Floods, civil upheaval, and border conflicts disrupted education for over 500,000 kids in 2022, affecting nearly 17,000 persons.
Children’s poverty, income disparity, livelihoods, the availability of fuel, and food security have all been significantly impacted by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine. This could have regional humanitarian repercussions such as greater poverty, decreased social cohesiveness, and a rise in migrant and refugee inflow.
For efficient, child-centered, and climate-adaptive humanitarian action and risk mitigation, UNICEF continues to invest in improving the emergency preparedness, response, and disaster risk reduction capacities of governments and partners.
To meet the needs of children and their families, lessen the risks that humanitarian crises will have on them, and increase their ability to withstand emergencies, UNICEF needs $7.7 million.
Civil upheaval, illness outbreaks, and natural disasters are just a few of the threats that families and children throughout Europe and Central Asia must contend with. Major earthquakes are most common in Central Asian, South Caucasian, and Western Balkan nations. Region-wide dangers also come from smaller-scale catastrophes including droughts, landslides, wildfires, and floods. For instance, flooding in 2022 affected approximately 1,000 homes in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Urbanization and climate change are making disasters more frequent and intense, compounding their effects.
Already, more than six heatwaves each year affect 41.9 million children (or 57% of the region’s children), water scarcity affects 32.4 million children (or 49% of children), and riverine floods affect 7.5 million children (or 10% of children). 10 Vulnerable populations continue to be at risk of losing their lives and means of support despite countries’ efforts to disaster risk management. Families are impacted by political turbulence, civil disturbance, and displacement. In 2022, border disputes in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan affected 8,510 people, while protests in Kazakhstan disrupted education for at least 493,448 students and left 3,000 families already living below the poverty line in danger.
Oil, gas, and food prices are rising, there are an increase in refugee influxes, and political division is getting worse as a result of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Due to service disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic and significant population movements, additional hazards of vaccine-preventable diseases and cross-border epidemics have an effect on children’s lives and development.
