Manila: The US-based Save the Children estimated 4.6 million children have been affected by Typhoon Haiyan, with many witnessing the devastation first hand as their homes were swept away by the typhoon.
“Many children remain out of school, unattended and potentially vulnerable to abuse and exploitation,” the NGO said.
As millions of families still urgently need essentials such as food, water, and shelter, the psychological needs of the children who survived must also be given priority, it added.
David Bloomer, Save the Children’s Child Protection Regional Advisor said “child friendly spaces” will be opened by his organisation in Tacloban City and other parts of Leyte Island, in partnership with Unicef and local communities. Eleven such spaces will be opened on the island to address children’s psychological and social needs and to help ensure their welfare, Bloomer said.
“These villages are in ruins, with children sitting around in what remains, with nothing to do and no structure to their day,” he said adding that local communities are highlighting the need to re-establish safe spaces for their children.
“There is an urgent need to help children recover from this tragic experience. Communities have expressed how extremely anxious they are about their children’s well-being,” said Bloomer.
Earlier, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in the Philippines, Luisa Carvalho expressed concern over labour and sexual abuses taking place in typhoon-devastated areas in the Visayas.
Carvalho, during a press briefing, said experiences in the past had showed that calamities have left children susceptible to exploitation as some of them have been orphaned with no parents or relatives to look after their welfare.
“Child traffickers may take advantage of their situation and persuade those children to engage in sexual slavery and labour bondage,” she said.
During the onslaught of typhoon Washi in December 2011, a child was reportedly raped at the evacuation centre in Cagayan de Oro City.
Aside from abuse, children are also susceptible to human traffickers who may lure them into moving to other places in the country where they will be hired as child labour. Most often, these conditions occur under an exploitative arrangement.
As victims of Typhoon Haiyan pick up the pieces and struggle to put their lives on track, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, a former trial court judge, has asked the Department of Justice if it has taken concrete steps to address reports of looting and rape that allegedly took place several days after Haiyan (locally named Yolanda) struck Tacloban City and other areas in the Visayas.
“After the stage of rehabilitation and stage of just military or police response to these crimes, Yolanda victims would most probably seek for help in dealing with legal issues mentioned, especially if it is these crimes that took the lives of their loved ones instead of the typhoon and floods,” Santiago said in a statement.
