The health and well-being of more than 100,000 children are now at risk from Friday’s earthquake and the aftershocks that are expected to continue in the days and weeks ahead, according to an initial report by the United Nations Children’s Fund known as UNICEF.
The UN estimates that the quake has already affected a total of more than 300,000 people in Marrakesh and across the High Atlas Mountains.
In any emergency, children are the most vulnerable. UNICEF said it’s ready to help the humanitarian response as needed, working closely with authorities and UN partners to get critical supplies and services to impacted children and families in the short and long term. They are in urgent need of assistance, including shelter, safe drinking water, health and medical help, food and nutrition support, and psychosocial support. Getting children back to school is also “critical for their long-term recovery,” UNICEF asserted.
Not only have thousands of homes been destroyed, displacing families, and exposing them to the elements at a time of year when temperatures plummet at night, but schools, hospitals, and other medical and educational facilities have cracked or collapsed, further affecting children.
As of the most recent data from 2022, children accounted for about one-third of Morocco’s population. UNICEF, founded after World War II, has provided support to the children of Morocco since 1957.