A total of 43.1 million children have become internally displaced in 44 countries as a consequence of meteorological disasters between 2016 and 2021, which is equivalent to about 20,000 child displacements daily.
This is stated in the report ‘Children displaced by climate change’, prepared by Unicef and whose conclusions were published this Friday. This is the first global analysis of the number of minors uprooted from their homes between 2016 and 2021 due to floods, storms, droughts and forest fires, and offers forecasts for the next 30 years.
The report shows that China and the Philippines They are two of the countries where the highest absolute numbers of child displacements were recorded as a result of their exposure to extreme weather events, the enormous size of their child population and progress in early warning and evacuation capacity.
If the analysis is limited to the size of the child population, children who live in small island countries, such as Dominica y Vanuatu, were the most exposed to storms; while residents in Somalia and South Sudan endured more flooding.
In this situation, the executive director of Unicef, Catherine Russell, expressed the following: “For any boy or girl it is terrifying when a ferocious fire or flood hits their community.” In addition, he added that “for those who are forced to flee, the fear and consequences can be especially devastating, as they are worried about whether they will be able to return home and resume school or if they will be forced to move again.