Keeping children safe during floods

The finding that nearly 45 percent of this year's flood casualties in Assam are children is shocking and demands
Keeping children safe during floods

The finding that nearly 45 percent of this year's flood casualties in Assam are children is shocking and demands immediate attention from the highest level. This newspaper has brought to light that 49 of the 110 lives claimed by floods between May 22 and August 3 are children. In 2019 foods, 32 of the 102 flood casualties were children. The news report attributing to information available with Assam State Disaster Management Authority highlights that there are instances of some children falling from beds while sleeping while some were drowned in flood waters while playing or bathing in rivers. While the ASDMA authorities will need to undertake a through probe to know the reason behind high casualty of children in this year's flood they suspect that children are susceptible to drowning as they are unable to move to safer grounds or gauge the depth of waters. Whatever may be the cause, high casualties of children in floods point towards a serious gap in disaster preparedness and rescue operation. Images of minor children paddling makeshift banana raft on high flooded areas without the aid of elders are quite common during Assam floods. Such images tell the bitter truth how large number of marooned children are left vulnerable and are not rescued and taken to safe zones either by disaster response force teams or by elders in the locality. Unlike elders the children do not have the capacity to rush to safety in a disaster situation. Evacuating the children along with women and elderly to safer grounds well ahead of rise in the flood level should figure prominently in the Standard Operating Procedure for the rescue team of disaster response force or the first responders of the community. Fund from State Disaster Risk Management Fund can be used to procure and distribute life jackets among residents in flood-prone areas to save lives of children and others. This can help enhance disaster management capability of the local institutions and the communities at risk. Assam State Disaster Management Plan of the ASDMA includes children below six years and persons above 65 years to be highly vulnerable to flood risk events. The age brackets however leave out a vast population of children above six years outside the ambit of vulnerability mapping. Disaggregated data of the affected population for this year and previous years will help the ASDMA make a comprehensive and scientific assessment of the vulnerability of different age groups and review the management plan accordingly. Inclusion of a special chapter in the state and district disaster management plans on rescue and rehabilitation of the vulnerable age groups will help rescue teams of disaster response force and first responders of the communities to focus on their safety. Vulnerability mapping has to be carried out well ahead of monsoon and elaborate rescue plans have to be made so that highly vulnerable population can be evacuated to safer grounds quickly and without fail. Massive awareness drive in flood-prone areas to sensitize communities to prioritize safety of children and elderly during flood situation and ensure that children are not left alone and not allowed to venture out without being accompanied by parents or elders. Inclusion of detail data on flood affected children of different groups in the daily flood bulletin issued by the ASDMA will help all stakeholders like the district and local disaster management authorities to pay special attention on safety of children and take timely measures. The ASDMA initiated a pilot project in Dhemaji and Majuli districts on creation of child-friendly space at the relief camps during floods as creation of "Child Friendly spaces in Emergencies" is mandated by the National School Safety Policy. The policy is statutory in nature and its guidelines have been implemented with effect from 2017. Based on the pilot project the ASDMA asked all deputy commissioners to ensure that child friendly spaces are created in all the relief camps to provide the flood affected children a safe environment and equipping them with provision for play, recreation, education and health. Evaluation of its implementation will help identify the gap areas. However, the challenge of providing a large number of children who are compelled to take shelter under make shift-relief camps under tarpaulin sheet on embankments in absence of school or government building as relief camps the same child friendly environment is still a huge challenge for the ASDMA and the district authorities. Construction of raised platforms with designated "child-friendly space" could be an answer to this problem. Creation of such space on a raised platform require architectural innovation with use of locally available, eco-friendly and low-cost housing materials. Safety of children must be made the top priority during pre-disaster preparedness to protect them during disasters. The communities share an equal responsibility of ensuring safety of the children during disasters. 

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