UN says up to 40 percent of those killed in Myanmar cyclone likely children

BANGKOK, Myanmar: About a third of those killed in the Myanmar cyclone may have been children and chaotic camps set up by survivors could put others at risk of human trafficking and sexual abuse, the U.N. and other agencies said Tuesday.

The crowded, makeshift shelters were forcing orphans and separated children to live alongside strangers, often in dark or unlit areas with little supervision, creating a perfect recruiting ground for predators.

"We are really concerned about the risk of exploitation and sexual abuse," said Anne-Claire Dufay, chief of UNICEF's child protection section in Myanmar, adding such worries are common in post-emergency situations. "If they don't have private sleeping spaces, it could be an issue."

Dufay said they have had one report of the attempted trafficking of a teenage storm survivor in the country's largest city, Yangon, but so far no confirmed reports of sexual abuse.

Similar concerns were expressed in the days following the 2004 tsunami, but little evidence of it emerged.

Cyclone Nargis devastated Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta on May 3, leaving about 62,000 people dead or missing according to the government count. The United Nations has suggested the death toll is likely to be more than 100,000.

UNICEF estimates a third of those killed were children, based largely on population data from the affected areas as well as the scant information on those who survived.

Reports coming from the swamped Irrawaddy delta have found village upon village decimated by the waves. Scores of families were killed and chilling photos have emerged showing the bodies of dead children.

"Our figures in the camps show a lot of adults, but very few children and very few elderly," said CARE Australia's country director in Myanmar, Brian Agland.

"The worst-case scenario is that a lot of children may have lost their lives because of drowning," he said. "In one village there were 500 survivors and they were all adults. So that's the kind of despair people are living with, wondering where their children are."

The other concern is the trauma faced by youngsters, some of whom have lost entire families or barely escaped the waves that destroyed their villages. Schools, too, were heavily damaged in many of the hardest hit areas, with 95 percent to 100 percent of educational buildings washed away in the cyclone.

Andrew Kirkwood, country director of Save the Children in Yangon, estimated that 3,000 schools were destroyed, which means a half-million young children have no prospect of beginning school when it opens June 1. "It's a huge concern," he said.

The United Nations and several NGOs including World Vision and Save the Children have begun setting up scores of youth centers, where they can talk about their concerns in a safe environment along with playing games, singing and learning basics like their numbers and alphabet.

"It helps these children go through the process of grief and shock more quickly," said Laura Blank, a spokeswoman for World Vision, which is setting up 37 centers in and around Yangon, serving up to 3,700 youngsters. "When the children have a chance ... to play and sing, you create an environment where they feel like it is OK for them to be kids again."

Many of the children endure a range of emotions following a tragedy like the cyclone, ranging from depression, to anger to sadness, child protection experts said. They also are facing health problems in Myanmar, including malnutrition, diarrhea and possibly malaria.

In Yangon, a woman and her 8-year-old grandson who claimed they lost their home in the disaster were begging on the streets. "We are here to help mother make some money so we can eat," the child, Tin Soe, said softly. "We are hungry."

Asked if he thinks his school will be rebuilt before the school year begins, he scratched his head and said: "I don't know. I hope so. I miss my friends and my teachers."

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