Natural disasters leave millions homeless and children out of school

Natural disasters, such as floods and typhoons, forced 4.5 million people around the world to leave their homes in the first half of 2017聽.

They included hundreds of thousands of children whose education has been stopped or disrupted due to schools being severely damaged or destroyed by the extreme weather conditions.

And that was before the聽impact of last month’s South Asia floods that destroyed or damaged 18,000 schools and left 1.8 million children out of education.

Humanitarian emergencies can stop a child’s education for months or even years – but less than 2% of aid goes towards education in these situations.

Education can be lifesaving in a crisis. Not being in school can leave children at risk of child labour, early marriage, exploitation and recruitment into armed forces.

Save the Children warned last week that the floods in India, Bangladesh and Nepal聽could leave hundreds of thousands of children out of school for so long that they might never return.

The figures of people uprooted from their homes comes in a聽new report by the聽Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre听(滨顿惭颁).

Between January and June this year, the聽number displaced by natural disasters almost matched those whose lives were impacted by conflict – an estimated 4.5 million, compared to 4.6 million in war zones.

The most significant disaster in the first half of 2017 was flooding in China国产视频檚 southern provinces in June, which affected 858,000 people.

The second largest was a tropical cyclone dubbed Mora that hit Bangladesh, Myanmar and India in May and June, affecting 851,000 people.

The rainy season in Peru from January to June impacted 293,00 people and in Sri Lanka 104,000 people suffered after monsoon floods arrived in May and June.

Floods in the Philippines during the first three months of the year affected 381,000 people and Nepal has also suffered terrible flooding – only two years after an earthquake wreaked mass destruction.

IDMC国产视频檚 report said: 国产视频淧rovisional estimates based on data available show there were over nine million new cases of internal displacement brought on by conflict, violence and disasters between January and June 2017.聽

国产视频淭here were 4.5 million new displacements associated with disasters in 76 countries and territories in the first half of 2017 based on figures available.国产视频�

UNESCO said in June that the聽Education Cannot Wait fund, launched last year, will help to transform the delivery of education in crises.聽

The fund aims to raise $3.85 billion by 2020 and is already financing education in 10 emergency-affected countries. That includes Peru and Madagascar, both affected by flooding earlier this year.

Sigbjorn Ljung, an education in emergencies specialist at Plan International, said education does not receive as much funding as other sectors during natural disasters – because it国产视频檚 not always viewed as a lifesaving activity in the same way as shelter, food and water.

He added: 国产视频淚n recent years education has been seen as more important though. Various actors are starting to recognise education as being as life saving as other activities.聽

“It国产视频檚 easier to understand, for most people, that food, shelter, water and sanitation – how those activities are lifesaving, saving people in emergencies.

国产视频淲ith education you have to think more long term. You have to think about – after a war or natural disaster – how the country has to continue. By providing education in emergencies it国产视频檒l be easier for a country to get back on track, because its children and young people are educated.国产视频�

Ljung explained that education is also lifesaving in the short term because when children are able to go to school they can 国产视频渇eel a kind of normality and it国产视频檒l be easier for them to cope国产视频�.

He said: 国产视频淭hey will have more psychosocial support at school. Teachers will know how to deal with children who are suffering distress.

国产视频淎lso children in these settings often don国产视频檛 see any other options than to go to war themselves. They might be recruited as child soldiers or sex workers or suffer rape. So by providing education in emergency settings children can escape many of these very dangerous routes.国产视频�

Plan is currently working in India, Kenya, Sierra Leone and the Lake Chad region, among others.聽The NGO is also working in Nepal, as is Save The Children.

Sudarshan Shrestha of Save The Children said more than 330,000 houses and approximately 1.7 million people in Nepal have been affected by the recent floods in South Asia.聽The Humanitarian Country Team has made an emergency response appeal for $58 million.

Shrestha said: 国产视频淭he number of deaths is about 150, of which we understand 23 are children in the 23 districts that have been affected by the monsoon rains and resulting floods.国产视频�

The impact on schools has been enormous, according to the Education Cluster, which is headed by the government and co-led by Save the Children and UNICEF. It also includes Plan International, Oxfam, Care and national civil society organisations.

Figures released last week by the UN humanitarian agency OCHA revealed that 30 million people have been affected in India, eight million people in Bangladesh and 1.7 million in Nepal.

The floods damaged or destroyed more than 12,000 schools in India, 4000 in Bangladesh and 2000 in Nepal. Thousands more are being used as shelters for displaced families.

“Millions of children have seen their lives swept away by these devastating floods” said Jean Gough, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia.聽

“Children have lost their homes, schools and even friends and loved ones. There is a danger the worst could still be to come as rains continue and flood waters move south.

“Massive damage to school infrastructure and supplies also mean hundreds of thousands of children may miss weeks or months of school.”

Of 2000 schools affected in Nepal, a third have been severely damaged. Around 900,000 children are out of school and most schools affected have lost their teaching materials, classroom furniture, playing equipment and other teaching materials, now beyond use due to flood damage. 聽

Shrestha said that a joint response programme for education is being worked on by the government and the co-leads of the education cluster, to help resume education in the affected areas.

“The cluster team is helping with distributing 聽school kits, early chilhood kits, teaching and learning materials, and repairs for classrooms and school equipment.

聽国产视频淲ith the festive season called Dasai coming in three weeks国产视频� time, it is unlikely that children will resume with their education until the end of September.国产视频�

In Sierra Leone – where mudslides caused an extraordinary amount of damage in August – the charity Street Child has been trying to help affected children.

Tom Dannatt, CEO of Street Child, said schools were being used to house people who had lost their homes.

Speaking at the end of August, he said: “Schools are still out so they are being used as emergency shelters – it would be massively unfortunate if the start of term in September was delayed.聽

国产视频淚n Sierra Leone, as elsewhere, evidence clearly shows that the biggest barrier to education is poverty, so when families have lost a large amount then the financial realities of education often take a back seat with families国产视频� priorities.国产视频�

Dannatt said the Ebola crisis also severely impacted children国产视频檚 education with many schools being converted into medical centres during the crisis.聽

He added: 国产视频淭here was the heartbreaking sight of a lovely school building project that I国产视频檇 been personally involved in being used…. I was there during Ebola, and remember seeing it handed over to a US initiative… all the furniture had been taken out and was sitting in the open, piled high like a bonfire.聽

国产视频淚 remember thinking, 国产视频業 get that you need to use this for the emergency at the moment, but we do need to keep an eye on the future at the same time, and the reality was that this community has not had a junior secondary school before.聽

“We need to be careful about the future, because who国产视频檚 to say that money will come to repair all that furniture, which you just rather carelessly tossed to one side.国产视频�