Lisa Söderlindh

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 20 2006 (IPS) – Unable to compete with younger survivors for scarce resources and largely excluded from international aid efforts, thousands of elderly people were neglected in the initial aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
The elderly are the ones, along with the smallest children, who were physically unable to escape the enormous waves. They were totally helpless, Susanne Loos-Jayawickreme, vice chair of the Sri Lankan Jayawickreme Foundation, said at a U.N. roundtable called to assess the needs of older survivors, some of whom are still living in flimsy temporary shelters.

In Sri Lanka, one of the most severely affected countries, Loos said the tsunami left the elderly both homeless and disconnected from community life. The old people were stuffed in camps and almost forgotten. Nobody cared, she said.

Though immediate aid was made available by governments and relief agencies, no specific measures were taken to reach out to older persons, who form nearly 10 percent of the population in Asia. As a result, elderly victims were overlooked in the initial relief effort, experts say.

Washrooms in camps and barracks were not very accessible for older persons, especially at night, due to distance and limited lighting, said Thelma Kay, director of the emerging social issues division of the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).

Many older people complained of unsuitability of food supplied by other agencies during relief operations, and that they were unable to stand in long queues and couldn t compete with younger people, said the head of the NGO HelpAge India, Mathew Cherian, who coordinated research on tsunami-affected areas in India.
Related IPS Articles

A report issued by HelpAge International and researched by teams in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand examined the situation of older persons in the 10 Asian countries affected by the tsunami. It concluded that health and psychosocial services were totally inadequate.

In India, older people reported an inability to sleep, physical discomfort, and lack of familiar food, while in Indonesia, many were traumatised and frightened that another tsunami might occur.

In Sri Lanka, there were reports that a high level of alcohol abuse among men in the camps was having a negative impact on the wellbeing of older people. And six out of 13 older people interviewed in one camp in Thailand had lost spouses, children and grandchildren, the report found.

Still, despite researchers observations, a lack of accurate data broken down by gender and age has made it difficult to assess the tsunami s impact on the elderly.

The failure to collect data on tsunami-related deaths by age, gender and disability, except in the case of children, means that older people s particular vulnerability is hidden, the report notes.

The available figures, based on the numbers of those killed and displaced and the population before the tsunami, estimates that across the four hardest-hit countries Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand people over 60 years old accounted for almost 14 percent of the dead, and nearly 93 percent of all displaced.

The total number of deaths was at least 300,000, with another 1.5 million displaced.

The tsunami would not have taken the dreadful toll it did if international protocols such as the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA) would have been in action, noted Susanne Paul, president of Global Action on Ageing.

Agreed to by 159 countries in 2002, the MIPAA guidelines call upon governments and humanitarian relief agencies to acknowledge that in emergency situations, older people are especially vulnerable and should be targeted for support.

It also acknowledges the need to empower the elderly to fully participate in the economic, political and social lives of their communities and to recognise that they can make a positive contribution in emergencies, rehabilitation and reconstruction.

The implemented international standards now must be strengthened and adopted, Paul urged, not only to prepare for future natural disasters and emergencies, but also to ensure that all affected elderly are provided with the means and assistance to restore their livelihoods and regain their lost lives.

Shockingly, even today, more than one year after the tsunami, there are those who remain in temporary shelters, which are hardly able to withstand the monsoons and the dry periods, when the temperatures reach baking oven proportions, Loos-Jayawickreme said. She added that most of the elderly tsunami in Sri Lanka still live by the sea and relive the trauma day and night.

Despite its horrific aftermath, the tsunami disaster should be viewed as a blessing in disguise in many aspects, said Ittiporn Boonpracong of the Permanent Mission of Thailand to the United Nations. It has brought us a true sense of reality and a great sense of possibility. It allows us to take stock of and examine our past actions, successes, failures, and shortcomings, and thus enable us to try to do better for the future.

Among their recommendations, experts called on governments and relief agencies to recognise that recovery entails more than cash relief, to collect accurate data on the elderly victims and the elderly population in general, and to promote a model that treats older persons as active subjects, rather than passive objects.