Female deaths in tsunami far outnumber males: Oxfam
Female deaths in tsunami far outnumber males: Oxfam
Achmad Sukarsono, Reuters/Banda Aceh, Aceh
The Asian tsunami that devastated countries fringing the Indian Ocean on Dec. 26 may have killed up to four times as many women as men, the international aid group Oxfam says.
In Indonesia's Aceh province where the catastrophe left more than 220,000 killed or missing, Oxfam surveyed eight tsunami- affected villages and found surviving males far outnumbered females, according to a report released on Saturday.
Findings were similar in India and Sri Lanka.
The worst case found in Aceh was Kuala Cangkoy village, where for every male killed, four females perished.
The report suggests that women were less able to survive because they had to take care of their children during the ordeal, and in some cases lacked swimming and climbing skills.
"In some villages it now appears that up to 80 percent of those killed were women. This disproportionate impact will lead to problems for years to come," Becky Buell, Oxfam's policy director, was quoted as saying.
"We are already hearing about rapes, harassment and forced early marriages. We all need to wake up to this issue and ensure the protection, inclusion and empowerment of the women that have survived," she said.
Most camps for tsunami survivors in Aceh lack facilities segregated by sex. Men and women from different families often sleep in the same tent and use the same toilets, many of them roofless or scantily covered.
High on the list of fears women would face in the future due to this phenomenon, according to Oxfam, is reproductive freedom.
"Surviving women may also be encouraged to have more children and space their children less, to replace those lost by the community," Oxfam said.
Other concerns are that women survivors will see their workload increase as they care for extended families and that they will be more vulnerable to harassment, sexual abuse and domestic violence.
The Indonesian government has no comprehensive statistics of the gender breakdown of those who have perished or are missing.
"This must hamper the current relief efforts, as well as preventing the understanding of the long-term consequences of the situation," Oxfam contended.
The report said that other tsunami-hit nations such as Sri Lanka also face the same phenomenon and many of its entailing consequences but with some variations.
In staunchly Muslim Aceh, for example, alcohol intoxication is not an issue, but in Sri Lanka it is a key factor.
Alcohol abuse, a pre-existing problem in the Indian Ocean island country, may increase the risk of women being abused by spouses or other male relatives in displacement camps and temporary housing, Oxfam says.
In conclusion, Oxfam insisted that provision of relief aid and long-term policies must be based on awareness of current and emergent patterns of family and household formation, and protecting women from sexual violence and exploitation must be a priority.
Indonesia, which has said it would begin curbing the presence of international aid agencies after Saturday, has never directly addressed women's issues connected to the tsunami relief efforts.