In Afghanistan, children start to reclaim childhood after devastating earthquake
Child-friendly spaces provide children with a sense of stability amid loss and uncertainty.
KUNAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – When a powerful earthquake rocked eastern Afghanistan on 31 August 2025, the damage extended beyond the immediate devastation of lives and homes lost. For thousands of children displaced by the disaster, the quake also instantly shattered their sense of safety – replacing a bedrock of childhood with fear, loss and an overwhelming sense of uncertainty.
“Many children were traumatized,” says Hafizullah, a social worker in Kunar Province, recalling the days immediately following the earthquake. “Their families reported that they cried at night, that they couldn’t sleep and had become withdrawn, avoiding their friends.”
Working with UNICEF, Hafizullah and his colleagues at implementing partner HYSIO quickly established a child-friendly space at the Zeri Baba camp in Kunar Province. Child-friendly spaces – typically set up in tents – provide children with a place to learn, play and begin to heal in a safe environment during and after an emergency.
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“We met with parents and encouraged them to send their children here in addition to school,” Hafizullah says. “We explained that through play and social interaction, their children could find comfort and regain peace of mind.”
Laila, a social worker currently deployed to the Khas Kunar camp, also in Kunar Province, says that children arriving at her child-friendly space were exhibiting similar signs of stress.
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“I’ve just started here, but I was told that in the first days after the disaster, children would cling to their mothers and cry whenever they heard a loud noise,” Laila says. “When families first arrived, many children were afraid, silent and emotionally distressed. Most had lost their homes, and some had lost family members.”
But Laila has already seen the positive impact of these spaces. “Now, with drawings and toys in the tents, the atmosphere has changed. Children sit in small groups drawing, colouring, building with blocks or playing together.”
Lutfullah, also a social worker, tries to make the activities in her child-friendly space feel as normal as possible. “Every night, I download new games on my phone, learn how to play them and teach them to the children the next day,” she says. “It’s one of the small ways I try to make them smile and feel a little better.”
Lutfullah says her space has revived traditional games – skipping rope and games played with sticks – as well as singing, reciting naats (poetry) and self-introduction exercises that help to build social skills and confidence.
“Our goal is simple,” she says. “It’s to help every child heal, learn and rediscover happiness, even in the most difficult times.”
Giving children somewhere to play allows them to work through feelings such as pain, fear or the loss of a loved one, while still being able to act like a child. Through play, children can also express their struggles – even when they don’t have the words yet.
But child-friendly spaces do more than just facilitate play: They serve as essential referral points for health, nutrition and mental health services, in an environment where infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed. More than 2,300 vulnerable children have benefited from case management and referral services at UNICEF-supported child-friendly spaces created since the earthquake, and more than 13,500 children and caregivers have taken part in recreational and psychosocial activities.
Picturing the future
The most compelling evidence of the success of child-friendly spaces comes from the children attending them.
“I go to class, play with my friends and do drawings. I once drew a rose flower,” says eight-year-old Noor. “I get to learn and spend time with my friends every day.”
For Nadia, 10, the space is giving her somewhere to process incredible loss. Nadia fled her village with her family after her uncle, who lived with them, was killed in the earthquake. “We were terrified,” she recalls.
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“After my uncle died, my father’s health got worse,” Nadia says. “When we took him to the doctor, people there told us about the camp set up for families [affected by the earthquake]. That’s when we moved here.”
“In my drawings, I did a picture of a house – the house I dream of living in again one day with my family.”
Child-friendly spaces like these are a powerful reminder that with the right support, children like Noor and Nadia can gradually process the grief and loss they are enduring, and one day reclaim their childhoods.
“Once the activities began, the children became noticeably happier,” Hafizullah notes. “Nowadays, when we speak with parents, they tell us that their children sleep well at night, feel comfortable during the day, attend school regularly and eagerly come to the child-friendly space afterward.
“They have regained their happiness and have started to overcome the emotional trauma caused by the earthquake.”
