Hollywood star Ewan McGregor has made an emotional appeal for aid to help millions of children left “scared and in danger” following Saturday’s Nepal earthquake.
The Scottish Star Wars and Trainspotting actor, a Unicef ambassador, urged people to donate £5 toward’s the UN organisation’s programme to deliver clean water and other supplies to the mountainous Asian country.
McGregor, 44, who visited Nepal with Unicef in 2011, said: “It’s absolutely heart-breaking to think that some of the children I met have now been left with nothing. The earthquake has not only destroyed their homes and their schools, but left millions of children scared and in danger.
“There are over 2.8 million children in Nepal in desperate need of our help.”
Please help children in danger in #Nepal. If your in the UK please Text NEPAL to 70123 to donate £5. Thanks. @UNICEF_uk
— Ewan McGregor (@mcgregor_ewan) April 27, 2015
Unicef warned that at least 2.8 million children are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, saying its staff in the country were reporting dwindling supplies of water and food, power outages, and downed mobile networks.
It warned that heavy rain was now worsening conditions, with many people living and sleeping in the open because of the fears of more aftershocks collapsing homes.
David Bull, Unicef’s UK executive director, said: “With children accounting for half the country’s population, we fear loss of life and great disruption to children’s lives, as homes and schools are destroyed.”
* Donations of £5 to Unicef’s appeal can be made by texting NEPAL to 70123.