From The BBC News

The 8 October South Asian earthquake killed at least 17,000 children when their schools collapsed, the UN children’s fund, Unicef, says.

It said those that survived were either injured or suffered the trauma of losing friends and teachers. It also warned of a second wave of deaths if children did not get health care, clean water and immunisations. Pakistan says the quake killed more than 55,000 people, injured another 78,000 and left three million homeless.

Unicef says Pakistan government estimates show 6,700 schools were destroyed in North-West Frontier Province and 1,300 in Pakistan-administered Kashmir as children attended morning classes. Ann Veneman, Unicef executive director, said the trauma suffered by the children who survived could well be worse than those who escaped last December’s Asian tsunami.

“The ones that survived, many have injuries. The ones that survived, also many lost friends. They lost teachers, they lost important people in their lives.” Unicef estimates nearly 20,000 children “will have physical impairments after this tragedy due to injuries and amputations”.

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