GUWAHATI: Children have long been recognized to be doubly-vulnerable during disasters and emergencies. Though there is overall paucity of de-segregated data to analyse specific impacts of disasters on children in Assam, an analysis by UNICEF (based on NCRB data) found that children up to 14 years of age constituted 38.61% of the total deaths caused by floods in the stipulated period 2001-13, which shows that children are highly vulnerable to flooding in Assam.
This was revealed during a workshop on child friendly spaces (CFSs) which was organised by Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) on November 14.
Officials informed that the highest proportion of children killed due to natural hazards (2001-13) is found to be in case of storms while in case of man-made hazards, drowning and road accidents are the biggest (immediate) killers for children in the state.
“Besides direct impacts in terms of deaths and injuries, children also suffer disaster displacement in Assam with their families. The critical social sectors meant to ensure the rights of children to survival; development, protection and participation are either impacts or become defunct during and after disasters and emergencies affecting children's life in multiple ways,” said an ASDMA official.
It has been realised over the years and with the changing trends in flooding in the state, the duration of displacement due to hazards like flood is increasing and children are more likely to spend more number of days in chronically vulnerable areas away from their established shelter; be it in established relief camps or in makeshift shelters. This has also given recognition to the fact that services to the displaced children need to improve in all four domains child right. It also necessitates innovations to ensure services reach affected and displaced children as an integrated package with less complexity.
During the workshop it was revealed that CFSs are widely used in emergencies as a first response to children's needs and an entry point for working with affected communities. Because CFSs can be established quickly and respond to children's rights to protection psychosocial wellbeing, and non-formal education, CFSs are typically used as temporary supports that contribute to the care and protection of children in emergencies. However, they are used also as transitional structures that serve as a bridge to early recovery and long term supports for vulnerable children. Although different agencies call CFSs different things - safe spaces, child cantered spaces, child protection centres or emergency spaces for children - the interventions are all part of a common family of supports for children and young people.
National School Safety Policy, 2016 and the directives issued by the honourable Supreme Court of India, for implementation of the policy in "true letter and spirit" envisages that "Child Friendly Spaces (CFS) for emergencies" are to be designed and implemented for providing children with safe spaces for learning and recreation, and protecting them from various threats and abuses during floods and other disasters by respective Disaster Management Authorities as stated in the policy. Assam has also drafted a 'Comprehensive School Safety and Security Guidelines' which also emphasizes upon the same.
