Indonesian Tsunami (海啸) Disaster Ing, eleven years old, isn’’t sure how she felt after surviving the tsunami disaster that hit the western coast of Thailand on 26 December 2004. The tidal waves not only swallowed her whole native village of Baan Nam Kem, but also the life of her loving aunt, who had taken care of her after her parents’’ separation. Another aunt is missing and has not yet been found. "What happened really saddens me. I cried until I had no more tears. The only reminders of them that I could find in the debris (残骸，瓦砾) were one of their blouses and a watch...On the day of the disaster, I was staying with my grandmother in a nearby village. I got very scared when I saw the wave. It was as tall as the tops of the pine trees. When it hit, I thought my grandmother and I were going to die. Luckily, a truck stopped and picked us up. We finally made it to the top of the mountain safely," she said, still looking frightened. "My house was completely destroyed, and I do not have the courage to go back and live there again, let alone to swim in the sea. I’’m afraid that such a terrible thing might happen again." Ing is now staying at a temporary shelter, waiting for her mother who lives in another district to come and collect her. At the same time, she looks forward to going back to school. "I want to go back to study, and only hope that my school will reopen soon." What I Witnessed Gordon Weiss, UNICEF’’s (联合国儿童基金会) Media coordinator of Emergency Operations, was in Aceh, the province hardest-hit by the tsunami. He gave us an eyewitness account of the disaster. A young boy clung to a plank (厚木板) . People were watching him from the bridge above, staring for a few moments, and then moving on. The boy’’s dead body lay atop a sea of debris, the gentle ocean swelled, rocking him against the bridge’’s wooden pillar (柱子，支柱). The once emerald-green (翡翠绿) rice paddy-fields (稻田) of Aceh have become graveyards for thousands of people. Bloated (肿胀) , blackened bodies rose above the water and lined the narrow roads. Corpses seemed to be everywhere... On that fateful morning, farmers working on their fields watched in amazement as a wall of water appeared in the distance, then tore across a broad strip of coastal land, smashing everything in its path. The 10-meter-high wall of water — carrying wood and other debris — surged across the plain, crossing the two kilometers to Segun Ayon in about 4 minutes. We drove on a little closer to the sea, to the village of Pengungi. Of the 6,000 people in the area, about 1,000 were killed. A third of the victims were children; another third, women. The children, frightened by their experience, clung to their parents as we talked. The s told us mat 13 of the 15 schools in this small cluster of villages had been destroyed. Many of the teachers were killed. Apart from food and water, the people here pleaded for help to reopen the schools for their children, who desperately needed a safe place that could restore some normalcy (正常状态) to their shattered lives. One old woman said in broken English, "Education is medicine to these children." Every few hours, aftershocks (余震) shook me ground here. The stench (臭气，恶臭) of death lingered in the air. Half of the city of Banda Aceh had been destroyed, with the figures for the dead rising each hour. What We Can Do Kofi , Secretary-General of United Nations, delivered his statement in Jakarta, Indonesia, 6 January 2005. What happened on 26 December 2004 was an unprecedented, global catastrophe (灾难，灾祸). It requires an unprecedented, global response. For the United Nations, it is the largest natural disaster the Organization has had to respond to on behalf of the world community, in the sixty years of our existence... It seems at times like a nightmare from which we are still hoping to awaken. We will never know the exact number of how many men, women and children perished on 26 December, and in the eleven days mat have passed since then. We do know that at least half a million people are injured; mat more man a million people are displaced (被迫离开家园的，失去家 园的); that nearly two million people need food aid; and that many more need water, sanitation (卫生) and health care. So as we grieve for the dead and pray for those still searching for loved ones, we have a duty to the survivors. To Treat the Wounded To pr further suffering as a result of polluted drinking water, destroyed infrastructure, lack of food, clothing and shelter. To stop the tsunami from being followed by a second wave of death, this time from prable causes. And in the longer term, to pr a third wave of despair, where people can’’t recover their livelihoods, homes or communities. The governmental response has been matched by unprecedented generosity from the general public. Consider the six-year-old boy in Shenyang, China, who donated his life savings of 22 dollars. Or the citizens of Sweden, a country of nine million inhabitants, who have raised more than 70 million dollars for the relief effort in Asia, while struggling to cope with the fact that almost 2,000 of their compatriots (同胞) are still missing in the tragedy... So the goodwill and concern around the world are enormous. So are the challenges facing us. Another Disaster to Children The most heartbreaking the tsunami disaster has brought was on children, who account for as many as one-third of the total killed. Now, as refugees register in temporary camps, the world is confronting a different sort of tragedy: tens of thousands of children have been either separated from their parents or orphaned. These kids, whom relief workers are calling "the Tsunami Generation," have become prime objects of the global outpouring of sympathy. But they are also drawing some unwanted attention. Relief workers say many orphans are suffering from both physical and psychological trauma (创伤) . A UNICEF spokesman says many are "in a state of denial." Some who saw their mothers drown, he says, cling to the belief that Mom has just gone to the ocean for a while, and that she will soon return. Protecting children from exploitation is another priority. Previous disasters have demonstrated that kids are targets for gangs involved in human trafficking (人口买卖) , which thrives in parts of the region. How serious is the threat Supervisors in at least one refugee center in Sri Lanka report that people have turned up asking if they can buy children. "Bad people take advantage of difficult situations," Bellamy says. Response to the Threat The Indonesian government responded by restricting travel for kids and banning adoptions out of Aceh. Indeed, none of the affected nations are eager to send tsunami orphans abroad. The U.S. State Department, for its part, has placed a postponement on adoptions of tsunami survivors by U.S. citizens. For one thing, not all the displaced children are necessarily orphans. Some newly single parents may have dropped off their kids at shelters as they surveyed the ruins of their houses and lives. Other parents may still be alive but were separated from their children during the chaos of the flood. "For every story about an orphan," says Paul Deveril, a UNICEF project officer in India, "there’’s also a story about a parent searching for their child." Those who still want to help have options. Both the French and Italian governments have set up programs that will allow people to sponsor tsunami orphans. In the U.S., the Christian mission Gospel for Asia, based in Carrollton, Texas, is raising funds to build 10 "transition homes" in Sri Lanka alone. But there’’s also the risk that with so many displaced children, local governments won’’t be able to find new homes for all of them, which could make thousands of orphans permanent wards (被监护人) of their respective states. Perhaps then their adoption by foreigners will not seem such a bad idea. We will never know the exact number of how many men, women and children perished on 26 December because there were too many tourists.