By IRNA,
Kuala Lumpur : At risk of disease, abuse and forced recruitment into the armed forces, children are the most vulnerable survivors of the cyclone that hit Myanmar, many of them orphaned or lost, fending for themselves.
As huge rainstorms drench the often-homeless survivors of the May 3 storm, with clean water scarce and aid slow to arrive, relief workers said in the past week that children may make up the majority of the next expected wave of death: victims of an epidemic of water-borne diseases.
Since many Myanmar children are malnourished, their immune systems are weaker, and if they are hungry or thirsty, they are really at risk, said Kate Conradt, a spokeswoman for Save the Children in Bangkok.
The weakest members of a shattered society, surrounded by strangers in crowded refugee camps, the children are vulnerable to abuse and to recruitment as laborers, sex workers or child soldiers, relief agencies say.
Myanmar has one of the world’s highest rates of recruitment of child soldiers, who are often purchased, kidnapped or terrorized into joining the army. Some of the recruits are as young as 10, according to a recent report by Human Rights Watch, based in New York.
The report, issued last October, said that military recruiters and civilian brokers scour train stations, bus stations, markets and other public places for boys and coerce them to volunteer.
The chaos of the refugee camps offers particular opportunities for them.
“That’s a deep concern because unscrupulous recruiters will certainly take advantage of the situation,” said David Mathieson, an expert on Myanmar with Human Rights Watch.
Already, news has circulated among aid groups of two brokers who were arrested as they attempted to recruit children at a shelter, said Anne-Claire Dufay, the chief child protection officer for UNICEF in Myanmar.
Relief agencies estimate that children make up one-third of the survivors of the cyclone, which took tens of thousands of lives.
No matter how much aid reaches them, they face a future of hardship.
When the school year starts in two weeks, the children will find 85 percent of their schools in ruins and many of their teachers gone, relief workers say.
The destruction of schools illustrates the scale of the challenge that Myanmar will face in returning to normal life: About 2,700 schools will have to be rebuilt, according to UNICEF.
Children suffered from the very beginning. Relief groups estimate that they made up about one-third of those killed by the devastating cyclone.
Many of the child survivors are orphans or are unaccompanied by any family member and are vulnerable in crowded shelters that lack private toilet or bathing areas.
“It’s survival of the fittest,” said Fred Bemak, a professor of counseling at George Mason University in Virginia, who was in Yangon, the main city of Myanmar, training counselors when the cyclone hit.
“Their schools are gone, their homes are gone, their parents are often dead or lost,” he said.
“Many children are wandering around separated from their families and communities, and they are highly vulnerable right now.” The youngest children may not know their surnames, their parents’ names or the names of their villages, Conradt said – and there is no system in place for reuniting families.
“Our experience is when resources are very scarce and the relief operation is on, the unaccompanied children are the ones who pay the toll,” said Alex Kreuger, a child protection specialist with UNICEF.
Child protection workers are trying to offer some refuge by setting up what they call child-friendly spaces where children can mingle and play safely and attempt to overcome their traumas.
“They get a bit of informal education and they play with each other and have fun,” said Laura Blank, a spokeswoman for World Vision, which is opening up 37 centers in Yangon.
“Through that process, we are bringing a little bit of joy into their lives.”
In the chaotic aftermath of the cyclone, with little access to the worst-hit areas, relief agencies can only guess at the number of dead.
On Friday, Myanmar state television said the official death toll had increased to nearly 78,000, from 43,000.
The United Nations estimate was 100,000 and others went much higher. The number of survivors cited and the estimates of needy children were also only approximations.
Citing a United Nations estimate Friday, UNICEF said that as many as 40 percent of those affected were children and that “there may be as many as one million children in urgent need of assistance.” Based on a different UN estimate of 1.5 million people who have been “severely affected,” World Vision estimated Wednesday that half a million children were left alive by the waves and are now in need of urgent help.