Highlights
UNICEF, in collaboration with the Playing for Change Foundation and the Ecuadorian band Cocoa Roots, provided psychosocial support to children and adolescents in Chamanga (Esmeraldas). Craig Woodson, Playing for Change facilitator, developed instruments with recycled material in a workshop with 20 children and adolescents and ten teachers, an activity in a regional initiative that seeks to promote children’s right to participate in cultural and artistic activities and to strengthen their role as agents of change.
Within the framework of the emergency response, UNICEF strengthened the campaign Tu leche es amor through social networks and provided support for the design of graphic materials about breastfeeding and complementary feeding, which were then placed in friendly spaces supported by UNICEF and in official camps.
Situation Overview and Humanitarian Needs
To date, more than 2,300 strong aftershocks have reverberated across the coastal areas in northwest Ecuador as a result of the initial 7.8 magnitude earthquake on 16 April, with more than 40 aftershocks greater than 5.0 in the Richter Scale. 8,242 people remain displaced, living in 24 government managed collective camps, and more than 11,000 people continue to inhabit spontaneous sites. While authorities are bringing the needed assistance to the official camps, spontaneous sites, especially in rural areas, still remain insufficiently attended and in urgent need of assistance. Several coastal zones in Esmeraldas province affected by the earthquake and aftershocks have been declared risk areas, and while this mandates that the population should be moved to safe locations, a housing solution has yet to be achieved. Humanitarian activities are not allowed to take place in these risk areas.