久久亚洲国产成人影院-久久亚洲国产的中文-久久亚洲国产高清-久久亚洲国产精品-亚洲图片偷拍自拍-亚洲图色视频

  Home>News Center>World
         
 

UN says fewer tsunami orphans than feared
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-01-15 14:03

The head of the U.N. Children's Fund said there were probably fewer orphans than originally thought in Asia's tsunami-hit areas, and efforts should be directed toward uniting children with family members.

Carol Bellamy, executive director of UNICEF, spoke just hours after the U.N. agency spoke of reports that Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers were recruiting children displaced by the tsunami and said it had told the rebels to leave under-age survivors alone.

Tsunami survivors walk among debris from the quake-triggered tsunami in Banda Aceh on the Indonesian island of Sumatra on January 14, 2005. Aid agencies have prevented diseases spreading through Indonesia's tsunami-stricken Aceh, but the threat remained strong, the United Nations (news - web sites) said as doctors reported children dying from pneumonia. (Kimimasa Mayama/Reuters)
Tsunami survivors walk among debris from the quake-triggered tsunami in Banda Aceh on the Indonesian island of Sumatra on January 14, 2005. Aid agencies have prevented diseases spreading through Indonesia's tsunami-stricken Aceh, but the threat remained strong, the United Nations said as doctors reported children dying from pneumonia.[Reuters]
Indonesia found almost 4,000 more bodies, taking the global death toll from the disaster to more than 162,000 with searches completed in areas most damaged by the Dec. 26 tsunami.

But life was starting to return to normal in towns and villages on battered Indian Ocean coasts with markets reopening and fishermen casting their nets again.

U.N. officials said the threat of disease to survivors had diminished but doctors reported children were dying from pneumonia. Health workers said they remained on guard.

Of those killed in the earthquake and tidal wave that swept through south Asia and northeast Africa, half were children, according to Jan Egeland, the U.N. emergency relief coordinator.

A very large number of child survivors were believed to have been orphaned, but UNICEF's Bellamy said in New York on Friday new data suggested that initial estimates had been exaggerated.

As an example, she said that an agency in Sri Lanka, which works with UNICEF, had preliminary data on some 3,000 children they have reviewed.

Of this group 836 had lost both parents but had an extended family, and 38 seemed to be totally unaccompanied.

"So the numbers are big, but the numbers seemingly with no one are going to be quite small," Bellamy told a news conference.

MISLEADING

"This rush to judgment is quite misleading," she added.

"We are advocating first that children get returned to their own parents. Secondly, if not their own parents that they are reunited as appropriate with members of the extended family."

UNICEF's Sri Lankan representative spoke on Friday of reports that the Tamil Tigers had recruited three children in Sri Lanka's east, where the rebels control large pockets of jungle.

"Recruitment ... was an issue before the tsunami. It's an issue that continues to be of concern," Ted Chaiban told Reuters in an interview.

"We know of three cases of reported under-age recruitment that took place in the east," said Chaiban.

"We said (to the rebels) ... you send out instructions that no child that has been displaced by the tsunami should in any way be affected or harassed by any person."

Two of the children had been reunited with their family but a 15-year-old girl was still missing from a camp for the homeless, said Chaiban.

"She was seen speaking to (rebel) cadres. She is no longer in the camp. The grandmother came and reported the case to us," Chaiban said. "We will be advocating strongly for her release."

REBEL DENIAL

The rebels deny recruiting children, saying many youngsters lie about their age to join the group.

The Tigers relied heavily on child soldiers during a bloody two-decade war for autonomy, a conflict which has been in limbo for three years due to a cease-fire.

More than 30,000 were killed by the tsunami in Sri Lanka, over 15,000 in India and 5,300 in Thailand. But Indonesia was worst hit with at least 110,000 deaths. People were also killed in Malaysia, the Maldives, Bangladesh, Myanmar and East Africa.

U.N. staff said there was no sign of diseases breaking out.

"There are no alarm bells ringing, but we cannot slacken our efforts. The threat is still there," U.N. special coordinator Margareta Wahlstrom said in Jakarta after returning from Banda Aceh, capital of the hardest-hit area, Indonesia's Aceh province.

But at a large hospital in Banda Aceh, Belgian pediatrician Bert Suys said: "We have actually had two children die this Wednesday night and one yesterday of severe pneumonia."

He said he had treated at least 13 children suffering from pneumonia after swallowing dirty water.

In Banda Aceh, an Australian army unit pumped water through a purification system.

A 40-year-old man queuing for fresh water, who gave his name as P. Azari, said he had lost his wife and a son in the tsunami.

Asked about the presence of foreign troops in the area -- criticized by some hardline Islamic groups -- Azari said: "We are more than happy to have foreign troops here. It's very valuable that they're doing this."

ACEH INSURGENCY

Oil-rich Aceh province has been the scene of a decades-long insurgency. Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said Jakarta wanted a lasting truce with separatists in Aceh, as both sides expressed a willingness for talks to end the 28-year rebellion.

Indonesia, nervous about a large foreign presence in the area, has sought to restrict the movement of aid workers and has asked foreign troops to leave soon.

Australia, the United States, Singapore, Malaysia, Germany, China, Spain, Pakistan, Japan and Switzerland have troops in Aceh to help in relief operations.

The global response to the disaster has been unprecedented.

Governments have promised $5.5 billion in aid, with individuals and corporations pledging at least $2 billion more.

The U.N.'s food agency said tsunami-hit countries had to flush out sea water from agricultural land immediately or risk losing large fertile areas swamped by the waves.

The tsunami also polluted wells and irrigation systems.

"This is a very serious problem and it is a problem that needs immediate attention," said Food and Agriculture Organization director general Jacques Diouf.



 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

China, US talk to resolve textile disputes

 

   
 

Olympic deadlines draw nearer

 

   
 

Securities watchdog gets IPOs back on track

 

   
 

First SARS vaccine trials a success

 

   
 

Probe lands on Saturn moon; sends photos

 

   
 

Graner convicted in Iraqi prisoner abuse

 

   
  Sharon cuts ties with Abbas over violence
   
  Graner convicted in Iraqi prisoner abuse
   
  Fifteen Iraqi guardsmen feared kidnapped
   
  US soldier jailed for murder of Iraqi teenager
   
  US tank, Iraqi bus collide, killing 6
   
  Probe sends back data from Saturn's moon
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
Anti-malaria spraying begins in Aceh
   
Macau Red Cross to collect US$4 million in tsunami donations
   
India plants trees to act as barrier against future tsunamis
   
Signs of recovery on shores battered by tsunami
   
Malaria threat emerges in tsunami zone
  News Talk  
  Are the Republicans exploiting the memory of 9/11?  
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 夜晚福利网站 | 日本欧美做爰全免费的视频 | 午夜在线播放免费人成无 | 久久精品免费视频观看 | 精品国产看高清国产毛片 | 国内精品久久久久久网站 | 国产一区二区影视 | 亚洲视频精选 | 特黄特色一级特色大片中文 | 九九香蕉 | 美女在线看永久免费网址 | tom影院亚洲国产日本一区 | 国产成人精品亚洲2020 | 久久色精品 | 欧美牲 | 亚洲成人综合视频 | 自拍 欧美 在线 综合 另类 | 国产精品a人片在线观看 | 看久久| 成人免费影院 | 成人午夜精品 | 成年人网站免费视频 | 一级中国乱子伦视频 | 草草影院私人免费入口 | 日韩欧美在线观看 | 韩国毛片免费播放 | 国产爽的冒白浆的视频高清 | 精品国产日韩亚洲一区二区 | 成人永久免费视频网站在线观看 | 在线播放亚洲美女视频网站 | 亚洲精品成人a在线观看 | 三级黄色a | 一级做a爰片欧美一区 | 亚洲 成人 欧美 自拍 | 久久青草免费线观最新 | 香港三级日本三级人妇三级四 | 亚洲精品一区亚洲精品 | 成人欧美一区二区三区视频 | 午夜三级在线观看 | 亚洲国产精品一区二区不卡 | 青青自拍视频一区二区三区 |