Is 2016 the year of the emergency?

Today, twice as many people are affected by conflict, disaster and other humanitarian crises compared to a decade ago - including 250 million children living in areas affected by conflict and over half a billion in high flood risk areas.

Already this year, conflict and extreme weather have left millions of children at risk: forced out of school and away from their homes, exposed to extreme hunger, violence, disease and abuse. Take a look through some of the most pressing humanitarian emergencies so far in 2016.

Natural disasters

In February, Fiji was hit with the strongest storm in its history. Cyclone Winston wiped out homes, hospital, schools and entire villages - leaving thousands of children at risk of disease and malnutrition. As communities began to rebuild, strong flooding and the threat of another cyclone further limited their recovery.

April saw Japan hit by two earthquakes and Ecuador rocked by its worst earthquake in decades. Towns near the quake’s epicentre saw up to 60 per cent of houses destroyed. A month later, water systems and health centres remain damaged, risking the lives of a hundred babies who are born in the worst-hit provinces every day.

Since the 7.8 earthquake struck Ecuador on 16 April, approximately 849 aftershocks have been felt, including six with a magnitude greater than 6.0. Every time the ground begins to shake, children have to relive the profound stress of that first terrifying quake.

In East and Southern Africa, a historic El Niño weather event is intensifying the region’s worst drought in decades. Failed rains and soaring temperatures are wreaking havoc on children's lives and the situation is only set to get worse. In Ethiopia alone, humanitarian needs have more than tripled in the last year, leaving six million children at risk from hunger, disease and lack of water.

Already this year, flooding, heat waves and landslides have cost lives across Sri Lanka, China, Pakistan and India. Unless we act now, extreme weather events could intensify as a result of climate change. For the millions of children living in areas worst affected by drought, flooding, earthquakes and storms - climate change impacts threaten both immediate survival and futures. UNICEF helps governments plan for disaster response, educate communities on how to prepare and respond to disasters and is among the first on the ground when emergency strikes. Help us be there for children in crisis as soon as they need us by giving to those who need it most. 

War and violence

In 2016, we reached a devastating milestone: five years of conflict in Syria. And in its fifth year, the Syrian crisis is now the deadliest conflict of our time. More than eight million children inside Syria and in neighbouring countries are in need of assistance. Thousands of children have been deliberately attacked as targets of war. In besieged towns across the country, basic rights like food and water are being used as weapons against civilians.

In neighbouring Iraq, as many as 11 million require humanitarian assistance after hostilities erupted in January 2014. Millions are displaced within Iraq, and refugees from regional conflict have placed an enormous strain on local communities. 70% of refugee children in Iraq have now missed at least one year of school. Nearby Yemen is at the point of collapse after a year of conflict that has seen an average of six children killed or injured every day in 2015.

In Africa, some of the world’s deadliest conflicts are silently escalating. Two years after the world erupted in support of 270 abducted schoolgirls, conflict in Nigeria and the Lake Chad region burns on. Millions have witnessed severe violence, fled their homes and had families torn apart in what could become one of the most under-reported and underfunded humanitarian efforts of our time. Conflict in South Sudan continues, leaving 400,000 children out of school and at least 13,000 in armed groups.

Today, around one in nine of the world’s children lives in a conflict zone. And as more and more homes and basic services are destroyed, the number of people forced from their homes continues to grow. Europe alone received more than one million refugees and migrants in 2015 as people travelled over land and water, risking everything in the hope of a safe place to live.

Children make up nearly half of the world’s displaced people and more than half of all refugees. Torn apart from their communities and even their families, these children are vulnerable to trafficking, abuse and exploitation. With a generous donation, you can help protect children whose lives are in the hands of wars they did not begin. Please donate today.