The lost generation

Up to half the 60,000 victims of the tsunami are children, says UN. Tens of thousands more are orphaned, and face threat of disease.

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The walls of water sent crashing onto the coasts of south Asia by the biggest earthquake in 40 years took a disproportionate number of young lives. It may have been as many as half of the victims - the toll stood at 60,000 last night. As the calmer waters return a steady flow of bodies, communities are coming to terms with a lost generation.

Mike Kiernan, a spokesman for Save the Children in Washington, said: "The death toll among children in these disasters is always high, especially in the poorest parts of the world - that is one of the tragedies. In villages such as Cuddalore in India we know that more than half of the 400 victims were children. There will also likely be many thousands of children orphaned." Waterborne diseases such as typhoid and cholera, as well as malaria, would take their toll on the youngest and weakest survivors, he warned.

A spokesman for the United Nations children's fund Unicef said that up to half of those killed could have been children. Communities were suffering a double loss: dead children, and orphaned boys and girls. He said: "Our major concern is that the kids who survived, now survive the aftermath. Children are the most vulnerable to disease and lack of proper nutrition and water.