Last year, Ukrainian children spent more than 900 hours in shelters
[ad_1]
Over the past year, Ukrainian children have spent an average of 920 hours or more than 38 days in shelters underground due to air raids, Russian missile strikes and hostilities. This was reported by the international organization Save the Children. According to the organization, last year 16,207 air alerts were announced in Ukraine, which lasted about an hour on average. Some families could spend up to 8 hours underground, unable to get out due to continuous rocket fire. More than 1,700 sirens with a total duration of about 1.5 thousand hours were activated in Kharkiv last year, and more than 1.1 thousand hours in the Donetsk and Zaporizhia regions. Photo: 160275/Depositphotos Representatives of the organization talked with adults and children who are forced to spend a lot of time in shelters. “We were all crying, we were scared to death,” recalls 16-year-old Sofia, who woke up to explosions and sirens on February 24, 2022 in Kharkiv. Now the girl and her grandmother live in Transcarpathia. This region is considered one of the safest, but sirens are heard here often. When an air raid alert is issued, Sofia usually goes to the dark and cold basement that is under their house. At school, during an alarm, high school students are taken to the village council, where a shelter has been set up. “It takes us five minutes to run there, 15 minutes to walk. But I’ve always wondered if the alarm goes off when the lights go off and we don’t hear the sirens and there’s a missile strike, how long would it take me to get to the shelter… It’s it took 47 seconds,” Sofia says. Educator Svitlana from a suburban kindergarten in Dnipro said that the air alarm sirens have long become a part of her pupils’ lives: “They get dressed, go outside, go around the institution, go down to the shelter. For about 3 minutes, the children go down,” says the teacher. The basement of the institution is now equipped for painting, games and dancing. Also, each child takes with him a suitcase, warm clothes and favorite toys. “We are in the basement because there is a siren on the street. We came here and we don’t hear it anymore. I like to play and draw here,” says four-year-old Oleg. According to the teacher, the children even like to go to the shelter, which they call a “cave”. In Kyiv and Kharkiv, people hide in metro stations during air raids. “When the planes take off, we prepare. I was scared in the first days of the war, but now it’s commonplace. Everyone has their own backpack. They take it and leave,” says Marina, a mother of two children. Going to the subway after the launch of rockets is now a habit for many families. 12-year-old Olena said what she usually does in the shelter: “I use my smartphone when I’m anxious. I can do my homework there. We’re underground because rockets are fired at us, and for our safety it’s better to sit here. It’s boring . But it’s better to be bored than when it hurts.” The stress of everyday life under the bombardment damages the mental health and psychosocial condition of children and adults. According to estimates by the World Health Organization, one in five people who have survived hostilities are at high risk of experiencing some form of mental disorder. “A year ago, the conflict, which turned into a full-scale war, radically changed the lives of millions of children in Ukraine. Thousands of families were forced to leave their homes to escape atrocities. Many children witnessed how their homes and schools were destroyed, and their loved ones were killed. The war has been going on for the second year, children continue to witness new waves of violence,” says Sonia Hush, director of the Save the Children program in Ukraine. Read also: Cartoons without the Internet and audio fairy tales: what to do with children in the shelter?
[ad_2]
Original Source Link
