Thai Children affected by the tsunami optimistic about the futureSurvey finds children recovering emotionally but still grieving for lost loved ones BANGKOK, 22 December 2005– Two-thirds of children in tsunami affected areas say their lives have improved since the days following the disaster and most expect the future to be better, according to the results of a new survey commissioned by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The survey, “UNICEF Tsunami Relief Study – The Views of Affected Children”, was carried out in Thailand (Phuket and Phang Nga), Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India among 1,633 children 8-17 years old who had lost a family member or their home to the tsunami. The results show that Thai children are beginning to recover emotionally from their country’s worst-ever disaster. Of the four countries surveyed, children in “This survey has given a voice to children affected by last year’s tragedy,” said Inese Zalitis, the UNICEF Representative for Thailand. “It provides the government, UNICEF and other development organizations with information needed to improve programmes for these children and to better guarantee their rights in the future.” More than 1,400 children in Thailand were orphaned by the tsunami, while some 50,000 lost teachers or saw their schools damaged or destroyed. Nearly every child in the Andaman coastal areas hit by the tsunami was touched in some way through the loss of family, friends, home or family income. But despite this terrible physical and emotional toll, nearly three-quarters of the survey’s 400 respondents in Thailand said they are “cheerful” in their free time. Almost half said they were “content”, and the vast majority (83 per cent) said that they expected the future to be better. At the same time, only 10 per cent of the Thai children surveyed said they were depressed. One-third of the children questioned said they feel bored, while nearly as many mentioned feelings of indifference (30 per cent) and loneliness (28 per cent). The most common personal issues and problems faced by Thai children were grief over the loss of family members/fear of death (76 per cent) and continuing fear of another tsunami or earthquake (39 per cent). The survey also asked children how they felt about the relief and recovery effort in tsunami affected areas. Nearly all the Thai children questioned (99 per cent) said they had received some form of aid. The most common form of support was reported as educational scholarships (67 per cent). Other forms of aid mentioned by the children were clothing (62 per cent), food and water (53 per cent) and housing or shelter (52 per cent). Almost all of the Thai children not in camps said they were now living in their own homes (99 per cent), compared with less than half in both India and Indonesia. Out of all respondents, 95 per cent reported being back in school. Despite this, nearly all Thai children (94 per cent) said that more help is needed. In particular, children want more educational support (81 per cent) and financial assistance (36 per cent). Less than a third reported still being able to do as much as they could before the tsunami, such as spending time with friends and family. UNICEF received US$22 million in donations to support tsunami relief and reconstruction projects in Thailand. Of this amount, US$8 million has already been spent on emergency assistance and on longer-term projects covering child protection, education, HIV/AIDS, water and sanitation and social policy analysis. The remaining funds will be spent to support projects in tsunami affected areas in 2006 and 2007. The survey, carried out in October and November, included both quantitative and qualitative (focus group discussions) research. The survey has an expected error margin of +/- 5 per cent for the country level results, and an error margin of +/- 2.6 per cent for the overall results. The full survey report and a press release on the survey’s overall results is available at http://www.unicef.org/emerg/disasterinasia/files/tsunamipowerpoint.ppt.
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