By The South Asia Times

KABUL - As freezing winter temperatures grip Afghanistan, tens of thousands of children displaced by the devastating 2025 earthquakes are facing life-threatening cold and disease, UNICEF has warned, calling for urgent humanitarian assistance.

The latest warning come amid ongoing relief efforts after a powerful magnitude-6.0 earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan on August 31, 2025, centered in Kunar and nearby provinces such as Nangarhar and Laghman.

The disaster was one of the deadliest in recent history, with more than 2,200 people killed, thousands injured and over 6,000 homes destroyed or damaged, according to joint assessments.

About half a million people were affected, with 263,000 of them children.

UNICEF reported that an estimated 270,000 children displaced by the earthquakes remain at severe risk of life-threatening illnesses as temperatures plunge below freezing.

Heavy snowfall and harsh winter conditions are compounding the already dire situation for families living in makeshift shelters near Kunar’s camps and remote villages.

Sanjay Wijesekera, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia, stressed the urgency of the crisis, saying that many children and families who survived the earthquake “are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.”

UNICEF is providing safe drinking water, health and nutrition services, psychosocial support and protection, as well as warm winter clothing, blankets and cash assistance to help families improve fragile shelters.

“We also make sure that lessons continue for those children whose schools have been destroyed already,” Wijesekera said, noting that winter is “a serious and life-threatening situation” for displaced children.

UNICEF Afghanistan teams are responding rapidly, delivering winter support and constructing drainage systems in displacement camps such as Khas Kunar to divert rain and wastewater. However, the agency says needs are growing faster than aid deliveries can keep pace.

“After devastating earthquakes, winter is turning crisis into catastrophe for children in Afghanistan,” UNICEF Afghanistan wrote on X, highlighting both the deepening hardship and the urgent need for greater international solidarity.

In a separate post, UNICEF Afghanistan Representative Dr. Tajudeen Oyewale shared “alarming images” from heavy snowfall in eastern provinces, calling for stronger support as children and families face yet another layer of hardship long after the initial disaster struck.

The 2025 earthquakes, which struck in the early hours of August 31 and were followed by multiple powerful aftershocks, caused widespread destruction in eastern Afghanistan’s remote regions with weak infrastructure and poor access to services. Entire villages were flattened, and tens of thousands of homes were destroyed or severely damaged.

With many residents still displaced months later and winter conditions making life even more perilous, UNICEF is urging additional support from global partners to scale up life-saving winterization and child-focused humanitarian efforts.