Explaining during the regular briefing in New York, the deputy spokesman for the United Nations, Farhan Haq, said that even four days after the breaks announced: “We still see losses among those who asked for help and more deaths due to hunger and malnutrition.”

He added that parents “find it difficult to save their hungry children” and have warned that the current conditions for the delivery of aid are “far from sufficient”.

The United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs Coordination (Ochha) said that if it uses each window available to provide supplies during unilateral breaks, the need for a need for a large thing.

“A permanent cease-fire is more than ever necessary,” said Haq, stressing that “unilateral tactical breaks alone do not allow the continuous flow of supplies necessary to meet immense levels of needs in Gaza.”

Access a major obstacle

Access remains one of the biggest obstacles.

The entrance through the Kerem Shalom / Karem Abu Salem crossing requires several layers of approval from the Israeli authorities, including a safe passage, the bombing and the literal opening of the locked doors.

“Yesterday, three facilitated missions allowed our staff to collect cargoes containing food from Kerem Shalom and crossings of Zikim and made it possible to transfer fuel to Gaza,” said Mr. Haq.

“However, the others were faced with obstacles, in particular delays in receiving the green light to move by the Israeli authorities, and you had to be canceled.”

Extreme hunger haunts children

The situation was taken up by Ricardo Pires, UnicefThe director of communication, who returned from Gaza this week.

“It’s absolutely apocalyptic,” he said UN News. “The children are injured and killed while trying to get food and help while suffering from malnutrition and hunger.”

Pires said that two of the three criteria for a famine declaration had been met, according to the Last alert of food security experts.

UNICEF and other agencies are also struggling with the collapse of basic infrastructure.

Perfect storm of suffering for children

“We are on the verge of artificial drought,” said Mr. Pires, with only 40% of the operation of water production and children turning to contaminated sources, risking deadly disease.

“Children are dehydrated. They return to contaminated water, which will make them sick, with fatal diseases or diarrhea epidemics and in some cases, even meningitis, “he added.

“It is a perfect perfect storm of suffering for children.”

While not submissive International Atomic Energy Agency (Aiea) reported
Whether there was no damage to the nuclear installations in Japan after an 8.8 magnitude earthquake was recorded off the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia, coastal communities did not take risks and have evacuated on higher grounds or moving more inside.

Alerts were sent a few minutes after the earthquake of Russia, the United Nations Office for Risk Risk of Catastrophe (UNDRR) confirmed. Although the authorities have now downgraded the threat through Japan, because waves of 1.3 meters (4 feet 2 inches) have been recorded, the council is that people remain in shelters until the danger decreases on continuous sea overvoltages.

“It’s very complex; We observe tsunami data in real time, so we need people to stay in the refuge until the end of the tsunami “,” said professor engineer of Tsunami, Professor Fumihiko Imamura of Tohoku University.

Mortal heritage

In the nation of the Asian island, memories are still raw from the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011 which killed more than 18,000 people.

Last year, the magnitude 7.6 Noto Quake left around 500 dead and damaged 150,000 houses.

The disaster also caused a major accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, forcing tens of thousands of people at home.

Today’s developments occur in the midst of reports that the last earthquake was among the 10 most powerful ever recorded, hence the reason why the authorities so closely monitors its impact.

Until now, alerts have been laid off the west coast of the United States, South America, Chile in Mexico and Papua New Guinea in Vanuatu in the Pacific.

“” An earthquake of magnitude 8.8 is a very large earthquake “,” explained Kamal Kishore, special representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations for the reduction of disaster risks.

“As you go from the eight -to -nine magnitude, or seven to eight, at each stage, the strength of the earthquake increases exponentially. Thus, an earthquake which is eight of magnitude as opposed to seven would be 30 times larger. »»

Faster than a jet line

Talk to Not newS, Mr. Kishore highlighted the enormous distances that tsunamis can cover, picking up an enormous energy which they then throw on the coastal communities.

Their progress can be as fast as a jet of passengers and can be followed by sensors of pressure change in deep sea, or tsunameters, which are connected to surface buoys which relay information in real time to satellites. These data is then modeled by national weather centers, influencing if alerts are issued.

“It is a real threat because tsunamis travel very quickly from one coast to another,” continued Mr. Kishore. “The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami was one of the most devastating of our memory, which has traveled from the Indonesia coast to the Sri-Lankan coast in just over an hour.”

Lessons learned

In addition to the coordination role of the UNDRR in the global early alert system, other United Nations entities also closely involved include the world meteorological organization (Wmo) and the intergovernmental oceanographic commission of the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Agency (UNESCO-IOC).

The role of the IOC is essential to ensure that countries that use tsunami monitoring instrumentation follow the same standard.

These efforts comply withThe first warnings for allInitiative to ensure that everyone on Earth is protected against weather events, water or climate thanks to saved early alert systems.

Today, one in three people – and mainly in the least developed countries and the development states of small islands – does not have access to adequate multiple early alert systems.

“Tsunamis prevention really highlights how important it is to have a multilateral action” such as data sharing to execute algorithms behind wave modeling systems, insisted the UN Kishore.

“There are countries separated by thousands of kilometers of ocean, but they are affected by the same danger,” he continued.

“If you do not share information on the observation of these dangers, not only where they occurred, but on what is happening in the intermediate places of the ocean … We will not be able to warn our citizens.”

“The heavy rains, the generalized floods and the high level of displacement all fuel the risk of cholera transmission and to put the lives of children in danger,” said Unicef Regional director of West and Central Africa Gilles Fagninou.

Cholera is an acute diarrheal infection caused by the consumption of food or water contaminated by bacteria. The disease can be treated with an oral rehydration solution and antibiotics, but can be deadly in a few hours if it is not treated.

Young children are particularly vulnerable to cholera due to factors such as poor hygiene, inadequate sanitation and access to safe water and a greater risk of severe dehydration.

Regional hotspots

Epidemics active in the hot spots of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Nigeria feed the risk of cross -border transmission to neighboring countries.

The DRC is the hardest country in the region, declaring more than 38,000 cases and 951 deaths in July.

Children under the age of five now represent almost 26% of cases in the DRC, and without stronger containment measures, they can face the worst cholera crisis since 2017.

The situation in the capital, Kinshasa, is particularly critical because intense precipitation and generalized floods have caused a sharp increase in cases in the past four weeks. Straining of an already exceeded health system, the city is now faced with an alarming death rate of 8%.

Nigeria is the second most affected country in the region, with 3,109 suspected cases of cholera and 86 deaths in late June. Cholera is endemic in the country, where major epidemics have reappeared in recent years.

Region level crisis

Chad, the Republic of Congo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Togo are also faced with current epidemics.

A total of 612 cholera cases were reported in Ghana on April 28, 322 cases and 15 deaths in Côte d’Ivoire on July 14 and 209 cases and five deaths in Togo on June 22.

Niger, Liberia, Benin, the Central Republic of Africa and Cameroon are also under close supervision because of their vulnerability.

UNICEF response

Urgent efforts and scales are necessary to prevent additional spread and contain the disease in the region.

Throughout the epidemics, UNICEF has delivered health, water, hygiene and sanitation supplies to treatment facilities and communities.

The agency also supported cholera vaccinations, increased preparation and response efforts and encouraged families to seek a timely treatment and improve their hygiene practices.

“We are in a race against time, working hand in hand with the authorities to offer essential health care, safe water and nutrition appropriate to children already at risk of fatal diseases and severe acute malnutrition,” said Fagninou.

“With a range of partners, we strengthen community engagement and extend our scope to distant areas and badly served, which strives to ensure that no child is left behind.”

UNICEF Ouest and Central Africa require $ 20 million over the next three months to increase critical health, washing, risk communication and community commitment support.

Eight years ago, Maria left Caracas, Venezuela, motivated by decrease opportunities and the hope of finishing her veterinary studies. At just 21 years old, she accepted an offer of knowledge that promised work in Trinidad and Tobago, cleaning houses, waiting tables. It seemed to be a life buoy, a way to support herself and her family at home.

She did not know when she entered a well -thrown trap.

“I believed in the promise of a better future,” recalls Maria, “but I found myself trapped in a nightmare that I could not escape.”

Forced in work and sexual exploitation, she lived in fear, rarely seeing sunlight, her freedom disabled.

Captive held for months

After eight months in captivity, Maria managed to escape. It was not the end of his difficulties, but the beginning of a slow and determined trip to healing.

Now aged 29, she lives in Trinidad and Tobago with her partner and their two young children, aged one and five. Although his days are now filled with school races and shared meals, the trauma persists. She smiles when she talks about it, but her voice brings the weight of everything she survived.

“It was not easy,” she said, her trembling voice. “But, I build a new life, step by step. »»

Back in Venezuela, her family knows nothing about what they have endured. Shame and fear kept it silent. She has seen her parents and siblings for the last time for seven years. Although it is deeply lacking, the weight of what happened is always too heavy to put in words.

Fighting human trafficking

Like many survivors of human trafficking, Maria had to rebuild more than her physical security. Emotional wounds are deep and the stigma surrounding traffic makes recovery even more difficult.

The International Migration Organization (Iom) was by his side, offering psychosocial support, helping him find safe accommodation and providing the tools to rebuild his life.

“We are working tirelessly to combat trafficking in human beings,” said Deery Jordan-Whiskey, assistant to the reporting project in Trinidad and Tobago. “Our commitment is to provide critical assistance to survivors while pleading for stronger policies to prevent exploitation and ensure justice.”

Maria is one of the many women in the region who have been attracted to false promises and found themselves in operating situations.

She knows there is a long road to come, but she refuses to be defined by her past.

“I want other women to know that they are not alone. There is life after that, there is strength. ”

Its history highlights the wider crisis in the trafficking of human beings, where women and girls are affected in a disproportionate way. According to the 2024 UNODC World Report on the Translation of People52% of victims in Central America and the Caribbean are girls under the age of 18, and 62% are victims of trafficking in sexual exploitation.

Behind each statistic is a human being, a girl, a sister, a mother, trying to survive and recover.

However, the figures cannot capture the courage it takes to start again.

“I am living proof that you can rebuild your life,” says Maria, her stable voice now. “It takes time, but it’s possible.”

* The name has been modified to protect their identity