[15 March 2011} - As many as 100,000 children may have been displaced by the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan's north-west coast last Friday, Save the Children has warned.
The British charity said it was concerned that some of the children affected by the disaster may have been separated from their families.
The earthquake and tsunami, which are so far known to have killed at least 2,700 people, struck in the mid-afternoon when many children were at school or kindergarten.
The organisation believes around a fifth of the 500,000 thousand people displaced by the disaster are children.
Stephen McDonald, who is leading Save the Children's team in Japan, said the most pressing worries for children living in evacuation centres were lack of water and psychological problems associated with trauma and stress.
"Children we talk to say that whenever there's a tremor they are scared that something is going to happen," McDonald told the Guardian from Sendai, where the organisation has set up an operations base.
"They are quite stressed and bored, because at the moment there isn't much in the way of activities for them. Boredom turns into frustration and there is the stress of what has happened to their homes and families."
Young victims of the disaster have spoken of missing their friends and their desire to return to schools that now serve as makeshift evacuation shelters.
About 25 per cent of the 1,200 people sleeping on cardboard mats at one shelter in Sendai are children, many of them with disabilities.
"Water is a concern here, but there is a large number of volunteers who are providing food and trying to make the place comfortable," McDonald said. "We've been told that people could be here for at least three months. The big question is what we do after that."
The organisation has 45 people on the ground in the disaster zone, including 40 Japanese. "Save the Children has been in Japan for 25 years," he said. "Our Japanese staff usually raise money for disaster relief in other countries. Now they are on the receiving end."
The charity fears many children were separated from their parents and relatives by the tsunami or during the chaos that followed. "We haven't come across any children who have been separated from their parents, but we expect to find them the longer we stay here," McDonald said.
According to child health experts, children who have been caught up in disasters can develop behavioural and mental health problems unless they receive counselling at an early stage. If left untreated, their experiences can have an adverse effect on their lives as adults.
The organisation says it is setting up areas staffed by trained volunteers where child evacuees can play with toys and games, and "recover from the trauma of what they have just experienced".
Further Information:
- JAPAN: Radioactivity could enter food chain, children at most risk [15 March 2011]
- More on children's rights in Japan