A disaster is a sudden, calamitous event that seriously disrupts the functioning of a community or society and causes human, material, and economic or environmental losses that exceed the community’s or society’s ability to cope using its own resources. Though often caused by nature, disasters can have human origins.There can be two kinds of disasters Natural Disaster –naturally occurring physical phenomena caused either by onset events which can be geophysical (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis activity) hydrological (avalanches and floods), climatologically (extreme drought and wildfires), meteorological (cyclones and storms/wave surges) (disease epidemics and insect/animal plagues).
Technological or Manmade Disasters - are events that are caused by humans and occur in or close to human settlements. This can include environmental degradation, pollution and accidents. Technological or man-made hazards (complex emergencies/conflicts, famine, displaced populations, industrial accidents and transport accidents). Of late there are also a third category of disasters that is emerging. These are natural disasters which are manmade.
Due to the growing industrialisation and urbanisation, the ecosystem is being largely disturbed. It is affecting the balance in the ecosystem and hence it leads to the natural disasters.For example, the increasing frequency of calamitous droughts that has been observed globally over the past 60 years can be easily predicted by taking into account the human economy’s emissions of greenhouse gases and other dangerous gases. Thus humans also contribute to the development of droughts through inappropriate land use policies, and in some other ways which causes disturbances in the environment. As the atmosphere warms, as a result of global warming, more intense rainfall is expected to trigger even more landslides.
This can be seen in the recent Uttarakhand disaster. Disaster situation of any type have a vast devastating effect on living beings and their environment.The general impact of disasters extends to Economic i.e. loss of property, livelihood, agriculture, livestock and poultry, employment and resultant poverty.
Social impact i.e. loss of near and dear ones, erosion of social and cultural barriers, mass migration to new places, lack of availability of food, fuel and water, burglary, theft , crimes , trafficking etc.Physical , Mental and Psychological impact i.e. malnutrition and other health hazards increase in physical handicapped , insecurity, breakdown of safety networks , depressions, post traumatic stress disorder etc.
Disaster and ChildrenA disaster situation affects every living being in some way or the other but among all the children are the ones who are most affected because of their social, physical and psychological vulnerability. According to the World Disasters Report (IFRC, 2001) about 66.5 million children were affected by natural disasters in every year of the previous decade, which is considerably more than in the decade before, while 10 million children were affected by conflicts.It is estimated that in every disaster situation around 50 -80% of the effected ones are women and children.
One among the three affected in a disaster situation is a child. In a disaster situation millions of children were made homeless, lost loved ones, sustained injuries, witnessed or experienced violence and suffered severe psychological traumas.Causes of VulnerabilityThe causes that make children the most vulnerable are many. Some of the reasons are – Physical Vulnerability – Since children’s bodies are not fully developed they are unable to resist the impact of the disasters.
Their immunity levels are low therefore they are more prone to diseases. Also during the disaster situation there would be a lack of food, since children are in the growing up period they are deprived of required nutrition and hence leads to malnourishment. Also the children lack sufficient motor skills to escape from the situation, they breathe more rapidly than that of an adult and hence have more chances of inhaling in the toxics, and they have a tendency to get dehydrated more rapidly. They are also mentally not developed to recognize danger.
The children are also not capable to communicate with the rescue team , especially in the case of younger children , therefore their rescue process become more difficult. Also they are incapable of escaping from risky situations. They are also inable to fend, cope , resist or recover themselves from the disaster situation. They need an external support to cope with the disaster situation.
Since children are in the growing up age and their socialization process is in a process of shaping up the child , the disaster situation can lead to them internalizing the affect of disaster and this can inturn shape their personality too. Therefore because of the above said reasons make children the most vulnerable to disaster situations.Impact of DisasterThe disaster can make two types of impact on the children i.e. external and internal impact.
The external impact on the children can be – Loss of family members and Relatives – This is a major impact on children as they lose their most important support system during the disaster. They are made morevulnerable when they lose their family and relatives as there is no one to take care of them and they are left as orphans and also they are vulnerable to external threat. Loss of shelter : Since all the physical infrastructure are affected by the disasters , the children lose their shelter and have to stay in hazardous conditions. Economic stress –since there is loss of property and other financial matters the parents or family members are unable to provide for the basic necessity for the children.Health and Malnutrition – The children have more prone to death, infectious diseases, physical injuries and other disease as they are more fragile and less immune. Also due to lack of availability of food they also become malnourished.
During the 2004 tsunami it was reported that more than 60,000 children died. Different type of disaster seems to impact children differently according to their age. For example in US in a study it was found that children between the age group of 0-4 years are most impacted by extreme heat, between 5- 14 years are impacted by storms and floods and 15 years and above by excessive cold.Vulnerability to abuses - This is a major threat for children in disaster situation. Since children get misplaced from their family members or are left to be orphans, they are therefore more vulnerable to abuses.
Often people into trafficking and other crimes reaches into the disaster affected areas and traffic the children for various purpose such as organ trade, prostitution, beggary etc. For example during the post tsunami situation in 2004 it was reported that girls in rescue camps were subjected to rape, molestation and physical abuse.Loss of education : During disasters the schools are destroyed, the teachers and students are displaced therefore the children are cut off from their education. In some case the families keep migrating from one place to another depending on the safety of the area and since they stay for a short period in each area the children are not sent to schools.
Also some family members due to the impact of disasters fear sending their children away from them and hence children are not sent to school. In cases where children joins back schools post disasters, then they are not capable of continuing their studies because of the long term disruption in their studies and also they are mentally in a disturbed state , hence cannot pick up with their studies.Internal ImpactThe major internal impact is that of psychological impact on children. The psychological impact is neither uniform nor universal. It depends on the level of exposure, the extent to which personally affected the individual characteristics and the stage of development. Thus rehabilitation of children in disaster is a great challenge.
The children react differently to different types of disasters. For example in a study it was found that natural disasters have less psychological impact than that of the manmade disasters which are inflicted intentionally such as war and terrorism which have high level of distress. Such disasters that defy the boundaries of human decency and rationale create additional horror in the children. During a disaster situation it is important to assess the condition of the family of the child first. Because the condition of the family have a deep impact on the child’s psychology. Children are most dependent on their family during disasters and seeing their family in distress would only increase their stress levels.
Children fear the most about coping with the disaster than the adults.
