FOUR months after Cyclone Nargis struck, the United Nations Children’s Fund – UNICEF – and the government have done much to bring relief to families in the disaster area.

But much remains to be done in terms of health, education, clean water and sanitation, and child protection, said UNICEF’s representative, Mr Ramesh Shrestha, at a briefing held at Traders Hotel on September 1.

Providing clean drinking water looms as a major challenge in the coming dry season. “Despite ongoing efforts to pump contaminated water out of the ponds, there is a risk that not all of them can be cleaned and refilled before the beginning of the dry season. It is crucial to identify high-risk areas with potential water shortages now and to work closely with the government, communities and our partner agencies to avoid severe water shortages in the coming months,” said Mr Shrestha.

Mr Shrestha said that UNICEF had set up mobile temporary water treatment plants and distributed tanks that can store two weeks’ supply of water.
The second issue is building schools that can survive the effects of natural disaster.

“One model school in Insein township has been established this month,” he said.

Health care centres damaged by the cyclone should also be replaced by more permanent structures.

As for child protection, UNICEF, in collaboration with the Myanmar Red Cross Society, has already reunited 19 children with their families. This is out of more than 800 who were separated from their families during the storm, Mr Shrestha said.

“We are still doing out best to trace these families, and still hope to be able to reunite some of them,” he said.

He said UNICEF had planned to provide safe places for small children who had lost their parents to grow up until reaching the age of 18.

He also said that child-friendly spaces established in the delta both by UNICEF and other partners had let the children play together and relieve their trauma.
Mr Shrestha said: “Even though the cyclone has caused a tremendous amount of suffering, this is a chance to rebuild better and improve the situation of children and families in Myanmar.”

He said recovery work would probably continue until December 2010.
U Aung Htun Khaing, deputy director general of the Department of Social Welfare, under the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, said that 120 days after Cyclone Nargis, rehabilitation work had been properly carried out in the affected area. He said the department, in collaboration with UNICEF, had drawn up a national plan of action for child protection in emergencies within two months for the first time in Myanmar.

He also said that the department had established temporary care centres in Maubin and Myanaung townships in Ayeyarwady Division for 212 orphanages.
“We plan to set up permanent care centres for orphanages in Pyapon and Labutta townships and we are going to establish vocational training centres for those children in Pathein township,” he said.

He also said that, thanks to the collaboration of UN agencies and international non-government organisations, child protection in emergency situations in Myanmar was not inferior to that in other countries.

U Aung Htun Khaing said that the department had also drawn up a national plan of action for the protection of women. In the wake of Nargis, women without homes and parents were at greater risk of sexual abuse and human trafficking, he said.

“The Myanmar Women’s Federation and Myanmar Maternal and Child Welfare Association are alert to the need to protect these women from those dangers,” he said, adding that no cases of human trafficking had been reported so far.