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Myanmar One Month On: Aid Arriving, but Thousands of Children Need Help to Return to School and Rebuild Their Lives
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Save the Children staff distributing much needed supplies in the Western Delta. |
Westport, Conn. (June 10, 2008) — As families affected by Cyclone Nargis continue their struggle to recover from the disaster, Save the Children, one of the largest aid agencies operating in Myanmar, is focusing on getting children back to school.
"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" said Save the Children's Country Director Andrew Kirkwood. "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."
He added: "From our experience of responding to emergencies all over the world, education is too frequently underfunded and under-recognized in an emergency response. Investment in education after an emergency is an investment in a child's recovery and the best way to improve the life of affected children and young people."
Hundreds of schools were damaged or destroyed by Cyclone Nargis which struck Myanmar May 3. Schools in the affected area are beginning to reopen, but many facilities are damaged or destroyed and must be made safe before children can return.
Save the Children will help ensure that children can continue with their lessons, in some areas establishing temporary schools in tents. The agency also is repairing 32 schools and providing education supplies for 15,000 children in Pyapon and Dedaye, in the eastern Delta, and in Yangon, as well as another 40 schools in Ngapudaw in the western Delta. Save the Children also has trained a team of local education staff who are being deployed in the Delta areas.
Children are more vulnerable after an emergency as their lives have been turned upside down, and the safety and security provided by their homes and villages have often disappeared. As well as helping children get back to some sort of normalcy, being in school protects children from further harm that may follow a natural disaster, including health risks posed by debris and standing water as well as the risk that they may be put to work.
Save the Children plans to introduce lessons on reducing the risks associated with disasters to help children to understand the risks they face and how to deal with them. Such preparedness lessons could include learning about safe places to run to in their village or simply teaching a child to remember where they live and their parents' names in case they become separated.
"Teaching a child what to do if they should face a disaster in the future reduces their fear that this will happen again and better prepares them," said Kirkwood. "Simple things can make all the difference."
One month after Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar, Save the Children is getting aid through to the worst-affected delta areas and has reached over 357,000 people including approximately 140,000 children. The agency is providing food, clean water, shelter equipment, household items and school kits. Save the Children has set up child-friendly spaces in camps across the affected area, which give children a safe place to play, helps them deal with the stress of their experience and allows Save the Children staff identify and support children who have been separated from their parents by the disaster.
Save the Children also is providing health services through a floating clinic and several other mobile clinics.
"Due to our presence in the country before the cyclone, we were able to provide immediate support to the affected communities. Nevertheless, we urgently need to scale up our response to reach more of the surviving children and families and deliver what we know they need," said Kirkwood. "Lack of food, shelter, clean water and education — as well as being separated from parents — are among the serious issues still faced by children in the remote Delta areas."
Save the Children has worked in Myanmar for 13 years and has 500 staff in the country with 300 of them now working on the emergency response. Save the Children is working in 14 of the 15 most affected townships in Yangon and the Irrawaddy Delta.
Learn more about Save the Children's response in Myanmar.
