Monday, October 10 2005 15:01 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kochi: Nine months after deadly Tsunami waves struck several parts of the country, fear of water, sound and sleeplessness continue to haunt children from Kerala's coastal stretches of Alapuzha, Kollam and Ernakulam districts, a study says.

The study conducted to reintegrate the affected children back to the mainstream of society has revealed certain chilling facts, according to Bitty R Joseph, Director of Training and Project Manager of Peoples' Council for Social Justice which undertook the UNICEF supported study along with Social welfare Department of the State Government.

The study says children were living with a constant fear, shock, fear of water and were having sleep-related problems.

Some children also showed suicidal tendency.

About 1093 children were having constant fear, 276 were in a state of shock and 16 were unable to speak or act. At least 839 children still feared water and sound and 460 had difficulty in sleeping.

At least 16 children had lost their eyesight, 20 had suffered loss of hearing. At least 43 children showed signs of onset of asthama, 556 children reported constant headaches and frequent stomach pain and lack of sleep was reported by 307 children.

Among the 16,818 children surveyed, 13 kids had lost their mothers, two their fathers, 31 had lost either of their grandparents. Sixteen had lost their siblings to the killer waves.

The study titled 'Project for the Care and Protection of the Tsunami-affected Children of Kerala - a Psycho-social Venture,' was undertaken from June one to September 30 in the nine tsunami-hit villages of Ernakulam, 21 villages in Alapuzha district and eight villages in Kollam district.

Among the behavioural changes noted by the study was that least 15 children were not willing to go to school and 294 were gloomy. About 1164 children reported lack of concentration and 117 were socially withdrawn.

Thirty-three children showed severe and 1081 moderate psycho-social problems. About 13,274 children were found to be harbouring Mild Psycho social problems.

Experts say effective counselling and awareness programmes are needed to help them.

According to Barbara Atherly, Programme Officer of the Tsunami recovery programme of UNICEF, the second phase of the programme which has already been sanctioned would be more intensive.