Children affected by rains and flooding in the coastIn Ecuador, the rainy season in the coast has been deadly this year. 23 people, among them 5 children, have been carried by the force of the water and drowned in a lapse of 3 weeks of heavy rainfalls and flooding. UNICEF and the United Nations Emergency team work in Ecuador to help the population affected by the emergency in February. Schools and churches have been turned into shelters for more than 16000 displaced people. Half of them are chiildren and adolescents. The risk of disease is high. To prevent mosquito bites that could lead to dengue fever or malaria, children and adults need mosquito nets; UNICEF has started to provide nets this week, and will provide 50.000 additional nets in the coming weeks. Other diseases such that the waters could bring are diarrhea, respiratory infections, skin diseases, leptospirosis and problems due to snakes’ bites. With support from radio stations from the coast, UNICEF airs preventive messages, which tell people how to take care of themselves and their children under this circumstances.
Heavy rain caused rivers to burst their banks, fields’ displacement, flooding and deaths. Children are amongst the most fragile victims in this flooding: they easily fall into the water or are carried away by its force. Most of them are frightened by what their families have had to go through in the last few weeks, and they need emotional support. In order to help the Ecuadorian government to offer children support, UNICEF has trained hundred of volunteers and social workers in psycho social support methodology, and provides backpacks with all the material for its application with children living in shelters.
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