Orphans launch drive to help tsunami victims

Fifty-three children aged between 10 and 18 whose parents died in war, attacks, natural disasters or from AIDS are gathering in Japan for 13 days of rallies, meetings and a camp to share their experiences.

The gathering was originally aimed at commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Kobe earthquake, which killed more than 6,000 people and devastated the western Japanese port city.

But in the wake of the giant waves that left more than 165,000 dead, the participants decided to turn the event into a drive to raise donations for the newly orphaned children.

"We can understand their sadness and difficulties," said Ammar Nima Farhar, an 18-year-old high school student who lost his father in air strikes in Baghdad in March 2003 shortly after the US-led invasion of Iraq began.

"We would like to offer support to tsunami orphans," he told AFP. "I hope to visit there and meet with them and share experience with them so that we can strengthen our solidarity."

At the opening ceremony of the event, children -- some of them carrying their countries' flags and others in ethnic clothes -- offered a silent prayer for the tsunami victims.

"It is horrible, but it cannot be helped because no one can predict a natural disaster," said Chan Kai-Chun, a 13-year-old Taiwanese boy who lost his father in the island's 1999 quake, which killed some 2,400.

"I want to tell tsunami orphans, 'Hey, hang in there. Let's work together'," he said.

The orphans include 20 Japanese children who lost their parents in the January 17, 1995, earthquake at Kobe. Other earthquake orphans meeting in Japan were from Algeria, Colombia and Turkey.

The meeting has also drawn war orphans from Afghanistan as well as children who lost their parents in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, in the United States.

"Children are always the first and serious victims in any disasters," said organiser Satoshi Tanaka, representative of a Japanese orphan support group called Ashinaga.

"The meeting is especially meaningful as it takes place just right after the tsunami, which created another group of disaster orphans," he said.

"The Kobe and other orphans have received a lot of support," he said. "So it is a good chance for them to return the favour by raising their voice for the sake of other young victims including the newly created orphans in Asia."