Millions of children in Southeast Asia affected by relentless climate-related disasters

GENEVA, 05 December 2025 - "Over the past months and in recent weeks, children across five countries in Southeast Asia - Indonesia, Viet Nam, Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia - have faced the devastating effects of typhoons, floods and storms.

"They are waking up in evacuation shelters. They're drinking unsafe water. They're watching their parents struggle to rebuild homes and livelihoods that have been destroyed not once, but repeatedly. And they're missing school not for days, but for weeks.

"Let me underscore what this means for education specifically. Our latest data show that since late November this year, more than 4.1 million children in the region have had their education disrupted due to devastating climate-related disasters. More specifically:

• In Viet Nam, 3 million students have had their education disrupted by recent typhoons, floods, and storms.
  
• In the Philippines, 919,000 children were affected by flooding and winds last month and unable to attend school.
  
• In Indonesia, over 180,700 students are currently out of class, with more than 2,000 education facilities affected by recent flooding. Authorities are still working to determine the full scale of damage.
  
• In Thailand, nearly 90,500 students are out of their classrooms due to flooding.
  
• In Malaysia, more than 5,000 students have seen their education disrupted since the start of the monsoon season.

"For many of these students, this isn't even their first interruption this year. It's their second, third, or fourth time they've watched floodwaters consume their classroom.

"Globally, as we said in January, at least 242 million students in 85 countries had their schooling disrupted by extreme climate events in 2024, the last year for which we have global data. Each represents a child whose learning has been disrupted, whose routine has been shattered, whose path to a better future has been shaken.

"Education is just one dimension of this crisis. The overall scale of what we're witnessing in the region is unprecedented. The relentless pattern of climate-related disasters striking the same communities over and over again is leaving families with less time to recover between each blow, and children disconnected from the services they need.

"Seven-year-old Khang, from Cao Bang province, in Vietnam, told us she had to run to evacuate her home since the water was reaching her knees. 'When I came back home, I felt sad. I missed my school.'

"Vuong Thi Muong, a 39-year-old mother, from Tuyen Quang, also in Viet Nam, has two children diagnosed with severe and moderate acute malnutrition. She said:

'The floodwaters surrounded our house for three days, we were isolated, and I tried to keep breastfeeding, but I didn't have enough food for myself. I had to feed my baby instant porridge, with no meat or vegetables - just plain porridge.'

"So, what does it mean to be a child in the impacted countries? It means they might not have clean water to drink. In Indonesia, water supply systems have been submerged and damaged, increasing the risk of disease outbreaks among the most vulnerable children. In Viet Nam, 480,000 people currently lack safe water.

"It means health services are disrupted precisely when disease risks are highest and facilities are damaged or overwhelmed. In the Philippines, there are nutrition supply stockouts and diarrhea outbreaks are becoming more common. And it means living in overcrowded shelters where protection risks escalate and children face increased dangers of violence, neglect, separation from families, and exploitation.

"But beyond these immediate dangers, there's something else happening that we cannot ignore: These children are being robbed of their futures. Each flood, each typhoon, compounds existing vulnerabilities. The psychological trauma accumulates as family resources get depleted. And the capacity to recover diminishes with each successive disaster.

"East Asia and the Pacific is one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world. Children are sitting at the frontline of the climate crisis, experiencing firsthand what it means when extreme weather becomes more frequent, more intense, and less predictable.

"UNICEF stands ready and continues to support local governments in their national response to make sure children in all affected countries can access life-saving support - including safe water, health and nutrition services. We're also providing emergency cash assistance to help families meet their basic needs.

"But humanitarian response, while essential, is not enough. We cannot continue responding to crisis after crisis without taking steps to prevent future emergencies. We need to invest in climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction.

"We need to build resilient water systems, strengthen schools and health facilities against extreme weather to keep children healthy and learning, and create early warning systems that protect children before disasters strike.

"Every child has the right to education, to health, to safety, to a future. When we fail to address the climate crisis with the urgency it demands, we are failing these children.

"The world is watching these disasters unfold, but we must do more than watch. We must act. These children cannot withstand the next typhoon, the next flood, the next disaster without our support and commitment, now."

UNICEF is the world's leading humanitarian organization focused on children. We work in the most challenging areas to provide protection, healthcare and immunizations, education, safe water and sanitation and nutrition. As part of the United Nations, our unrivaled reach spans more than 190 countries and territories, ensuring we are on the ground to help the most disadvantaged children. While part of the UN system, UNICEF relies entirely on voluntary donations to finance our life-saving work. Please visit unicef.caand follow us on Twitter, Facebookand Instagram.

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