INDONESIA: The Asian tsunamis on December 26th may have killed four times as many women as men, the 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 man killed, four women 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 per cent of those killed were women," said Becky Buell, Oxfam's policy director. "This disproportionate impact will lead to problems for years to come.
"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."
Most camps for 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.
"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.
The Indonesian government has no comprehensive statistics of the gender breakdown of those who have died 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 said. - (Reuters)