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Calls for Better Child Care in Disaster-hit Asia

"We need to strengthen our collaborative efforts… be committed to help the children rebuild their lives," Balakrishnan said.

SINGAPORE, November 16, 2005

Disaster-prone Asian countries must create a regional mechanism to help rebuild the lives of children when a disaster strikes, an international conference on child protection was told Wednesday, November 16.

Singapore's Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports said that the December 26 Tsunami disaster left thousands of children as orphans and vulnerable to abuse and disease, Malaysia’s Bernama News Agency reported.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan said that although other Asian countries had been quick in their response following the disaster, more should be done to help the affected children in the long term.

"As a region vulnerable to natural disasters, we need to strengthen our collaborative efforts on early warning systems and be committed to help the children rebuild their lives when disaster strikes," he said.

He was speaking at the three-day 6th Asian Regional International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (Ispcan) Conference which opened Wednesday.

Ispcan, based in Illinois, was founded in 1977 to support individuals and organizations working to protect children from abuse and neglect worldwide.

Asia’s worst earthquake in decades and the resulting tsunami in the Indian Ocean left tens of thousands dead and millions displaced in several Asian countries.

The Indonesian government estimated that 35,000 children have been made homeless, orphaned or separated from their parents in Aceh, where Muslims make 98 percent of the population.

While acknowledging the near impossibility of predicting tsunamis, especially those triggered by strong earthquakes, a Thai daily had said earlier that good forecasting, early warning systems and education could have lessened the scope of Sunday’s disaster and saved lives.

Thai daily The Nation has reported countries in South and Southeast Asia must put in place without further delay an effective international communications system to ensure quick dissemination of information throughout the region.

Challenges
Thousands of Asian children have lost their families.

Balakrishnan also spoke on the new challenges facing Asia arising from its economic progress and tourism industry.

"The impact of this progress on our children is significant. But there are also new challenges that we face... child exploitation is one of them," he said.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) was aware of the challenges and had recently reviewed their positions on tourism to put children's interests as a top priority, he added.

"The 10 Asean countries are now working on the Asean Traveller's Code to promote responsible tourism, including preventing the abuse and exploitation of people."

Asians in areas battered by the killer tsunami, triggered by a 9.0 magnitude underwater quake, are falling prey to proselytizing and human trafficking.

Immediately after the tidal waves devastated several countries, a number of Christian missionary groups rushed to the affected areas to offer not only relief aid, but more importantly spiritual counselling.

Gospel for Asia, a group seeking to train and send 100,000 native missionaries into the most un-reached areas of Asia, was among the first on the scene of the tsunami disaster in India and Sri Lanka.

According to its Web site, GFA’s volunteers are working around the clock to bring food, clean water, medicines, clothing, shelter, and spiritual counselling “in the name of Jesus” to those who lost everything in the killer tidal waves.

Overall, Balakrishnan said, Asia had made great strides to improve children's lives this past decade.

"The latest 'State of the World's Children' report by UNICEF indicates that most Asian countries have significantly reduced their infant mortality rate for children under five years old since 1990," he added.

The Asian sub-continent was also hit by a 7.6-magnitude quake that killed more than 25,000 people in Pakistan and 1,300 in India, leaving some 2.5 million people homeless and destroying entire towns across an area of 20,000 square kilometres.

The UN said that the trail of devastation caused by the quake was "beyond belief."