PAKISTAN: Focus Shifts to Quake Children

By Zofeen Ebrahim Reprint | | Print |

Zofeen Ebrahim

KARACHI, Nov 9 2005 (IPS) - ”The beautiful thing about children, in any emergency situation, is their resilience, both mentally and physically, that stands them in good stead to survive, and this, I never fail to marvel,” says Stephen Matthews of the World Vision (WV) Global Rapid Response Team.

But Matthews, who has worked with child survivors of the Dec. 26 tsunami that hit the tropical coastlines of several Asian countries, falters in his optimism as he considers the plight of around two million children affected by the Oct. 8 earthquake in Himalayan South Asia.

His biggest worry is the cold weather that sets the survivors of the two catastrophes apart. ”The tsunami kids were able to carry on and go about their lives because the weather was not so menacing but the vulnerabilities these kids are facing will only exacerbate with the onset of winter.”

Charles MacCormack, President of Save the Children-U.S., had similar views when he called on the U.S. government to mobilise more international support to avoid ”a catastrophe to children of unimaginable proportions”, unfolding in the Himalayan region, where cases of pneumonia among children are increasingly surfacing and the window of opportunity to save these lives, before winter sets in will close by mid-November.

According to the United Nations Childrens’s Fund (UNICEF), the South Asian earthquake, measuring 7.6 on the Richter Scale, left between 1.6 and 2.2 million children affected. An estimated 80,000 to 90,000 were also killed and over three million people rendered homeless.

Of those children that came out alive many had suffered head injuries and multiple limb fractures calling for amputations. UNICEF estimates that nearly 20,000 children ”will have physical impairments after this tragedy due to injuries and amputations”.

A month after the quake, aid agencies are focusing efforts on protecting child survivors, especially those with injuries. But more than the physical trauma, it is the longer-lasting psychological impact that child protection advisor at Save the Children-UK, Katharine Williamson, is looking into.

”In situations like these, children have had their sense of security destroyed – family members have died, they have been displaced, friendships have been broken and their routine has gone awry. For young children, it is extremely difficult to make sense of what has happened and why. Older children may feel that their future is futile as they have lost their education opportunities, homes and family livelihoods,” she said.

Added to this, the people who would normally restore their sense of security are themselves struggling to come to terms with what has happened and may be unable to provide children with the reassurance and routine that they need to feel safe again.

”There is also an immense risk of children being exploited in this situation,” says Kamila Hyat, joint-director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).

This could specially be true of children in places like Balakot where most men perished, leaving women and children vulnerable to trafficking. The International Organisation of Migration (IOM) has also warned the interior ministry of such a situation.

A number of reports, though unconfirmed as yet, are circulating about attempts by groups resorting to trafficking in children as happened after the tsunami.

”There have been many rumours which are an expression of a real fear, but so far, SC-UK have not found concrete evidence of trafficking,” says Williamson,

”This is indeed a cause for concern,” says Mehnaz Aziz, country director of Children’s Resources International (CRI), Pakistan, who says in such times ‘quake thinking’ is required. ”The government alone cannot take on child protection and private institutions must pitch in so the kids don’t end up as beggars, in this case, or are trafficked.” she adds.

To that end, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the National Database Registration Authority and several other national and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), together with the Ministry of Social Welfare (MoSW), are trying to devise a comprehensive strategy to deal with the problems of orphaned, unattended, separated, injured and missing children.

Early this month, the UNICEF and the MoSW, began the mammoth task of registering all children currently living in camps across the quake-hit region. The U.N. agency is also urging the parliament to pass the comprehensive child protection bill, currently lying in draft form with the government.

The government has declared that it will take ”full responsibility” of the orphaned quake survivors and put a ban on adoption for a period of six months. Relocation of children from quake-affected areas has also been banned to restrain anyone from trafficking.

While the Federal Investigation Agency has formed a team to keep a vigil on traffickers and childless couples but there is still reason to worry.

”No attempt has been made to begin a census of children affected – those killed, injured or missing,”’ says I.A. Rehman , director of the HRCP. ” The plight of child victims in settlements, away from roads is particularly distressing. The danger that orphans or children separated from parents or guardians who may be alive, will be targeted by heartless exploiters of various inclinations is very real but we don’t know its magnitude.”

Said Asha Bedar, a psychologist with an Islamabad-based NGO, Rozan, that is setting up a psycho-social support programme for women and children: ”These children are doubly victimised (exploited and neglected) because of their vulnerabilities.”

”It is extremely important that immediate support be provided to all children. Even those who do not seem to be severely traumatised, need support psycho-social support addressing both emotional and social needs and this is consistent with work done in other recent disaster areas,” she said.

According to Bedar, social support includes providing a sense of safety, companionship, positive experiences through recreation, space to relax, a routine like schooling. ”It also means that the systems and institutions (policies, laws related to schooling, disability, play facilities, etc.) that are linked to children’s well being are also supported.”

And this is precisely what ‘child friendly spaces’, set up by organisations like World Vision and Save the Children and others which have come up with the idea, is all about. For up to four hours, children of all ages (sometimes even their parents troop in) are allowed to forget their fears, their losses, their pain and their grief.

Save the Children-U.S. has three such safe play areas for children in Batagram sub-district and five in Muzaffarabad and intends creating at least 25 safe play areas in Batagram and Allai sub-districts over the next month, each serving more than 100 children. Here the children will be provided with a protected and supervised space to play with their friends.

”At first sight, there are children all over the camps, grouping together, playing, re-grouping in informal school structures etc. It is incredible to see how resilient and resourceful children can be in crowded spaces, and how families re-structure their lives so quickly,” says Williamson.

She finds that more comforting after the ”unaccompanied” children she encountered in hospitals who ”looked so alone, injured and small in the middle of all the chaos and the bustle.”