Many child survivors traumatised

Zarni
Mizzima News

11 June 2008 - Chiang Mai – Many children who survived the killer Cyclone Nargis are traumatised having witnessed their near and dear ones dying, an international aid agency working with children said.

Children are the most vulnerable group among the survivors of the cyclone and most of them are struggling to overcome the trauma that deeply affects them, James East, World Vision's Regional Communication Director in Bangkok said.

"Many children are suffering from trauma," East told Mizzima on Wednesday.

East said more than 10 aid agencies and International NGOs including the World Vision, the UN Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and Save the Children has formed a task force to assist children.

"We have some places in cyclone hit regions where the children can play games. These are 'Child-friendly Spaces', to serve as a safe and protective environment for the displaced children," East said.

East said while there could be no estimate of the number children affected by the cyclone so far, at least 2,000 children whose parents are missing have been identified in Rangoon division, and 32 children have been registered as those of missing parents in Bogale town in the Irrawaddy delta.

Though the Irrawaddy delta was hardest hit by the cyclone, the UNICEF said it is yet to confirm on the number of unaccompanied children or whose parents are missing.

Alexander Krueger, UNICEF child protection officer of the East Asia and Pacific regional office in Bangkok said a task force has been established to help the children trace their family.

"Until the process of tracing them is complete, it would be hard to say how many orphans there are," Krueger said.

But he said so far there are a few hundred children that are separated from their parents and less than 100 of them are unaccompanied.

Burmese aid workers and volunteers, who have been helping cyclone survivors, said children and kids are seen begging on the streets.

However, several children were also seen sitting idly with a 'blank-look' on their faces, a sign of being traumatized, a Burmese aid worker, working with an international aid agency said.

"Some of the kids do not know where their parents are, and are looking for them. But some said they saw their parents drowning," the aid worker, who had been helping cyclone survivors in the Irrawaddy delta told Mizzima last week.

East said for temporary relief, the task force has established several 'Child-friendly-Spaces' -- camps where children could learn, play and be fed, while their parents are busy struggling to overcome their miseries.

"We have about 44 'Child Friendly Spaces' in the Irrawaddy and Rangoon division," where kids can go and play and try to forget about the past, East said.

In May, head of Burma's ruling junta Senior General Than Shwe, during an inspection trip to the Cyclone-ravaged Irrawaddy delta, instructed local authorities to build orphanages for children, who lost their parents in the Cyclone, in Pyapon and Laputta townships of the Irrawaddy delta.

But Aid agencies said putting children into orphanages is not the best solution as children find friendlier environment to live in among their relatives or even with foster parents, who are willing to adopt them.

Krueger of the UNICEF said the Burmese government had talked about "building orphanages for child survivors and some unaccompanied children have been placed in institutions already."

Krueger, however, said the plan may be acceptable for children only if it is for a temporary situation and asserted that the UNICEF sees institutionalization of children as the very last resort when efforts to trace the family or to find relatives or people known to the child fails.

"UNICEF has been advocating with the Government of Myanmar [Burma] to promote family-based care solutions," Krueger added.

Burmese people have large and extended families and in the long run helping children connect with their extended family would be the best way to help children who have lost their parents, East said.

Save the Children, a group that has been helping cyclone survivors immediately after it the cyclone struck on May 2 and 3, however, said children are safest in schools as it allows them to mix with their friends and helps in forgetting their past.

"Education is vital, and it becomes even more important in the aftermath of an emergency when families are trying to regain some sense of normal life for their children," Andrew Kirkwood, Save the Children's Country Director, said in a statement.

"Schools are a safe place for children, allowing them to be with other children, to play and to begin dealing with the trauma they have experienced," Kirkwood said.

Additional reporting by Mungpi