DEATH

3.1.
DANGERS AND INJURIES
SEE ANNEX 1 FOR FURTHER DATA AND CASE STUDIES
ON CHILDREN WHO EXPERIENCE DANGERS AND INJURIES
IN EMERGENCY CONTEXTS.
In Thailand in 2011, Tropical Storm
NaLgae and continuing monsoon rains
brought large-scale flooding to a number
of regions. A child protection rapid
needs assessment identified unsafe
physical surroundings as the mainsource
of worry among caregivers regarding
their children, most notably unsafe
objects (such as electrical cables)
poisonous animals and road
traffic accidents. 33
In emergencies, children are among those most vulnerable to danger and injury, especially in
developing countries. 34 The World Health Organization reports that hundreds of thousands of
children die each year from injuries or violence, and millions of others suffer the consequences
of non-fatal injuries. 35
Common forms of physical danger and injury in conflicts, disasters and other crises include
road traffic accidents, drowning, fire-related burns, injury caused by explosive remnants of war
or landmines and unintended injury from gunfire.
In emergency and post-emergency contexts, children’s surrounding landscape changes rapidly,
putting new risks in the immediate vicinity of children and their communities. This may be
either as a result of population displacement, of living in new settings or of physical changes in
the environment itself. These risks include proximity of building works, dangerous terrain such
as landslide areas, unstable ground due to earthquakes, larger and faster flowing rivers, flood
waters, new roads, unstable debris and unexploded ordnance. The rapidly changing settings
means that it is urgent to ensure safety of these risk sites and raise awareness.
Additionally, the humanitarian response itself may cause injury by presenting new dangers. For
example, the increase in road vehicles that children and their families are not used to may
present a danger, 36 as may reconstruction work with building sites and dangerous machinery.
22 A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH: CHILD PROTECTION IN EMERGENCIES