I'm Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Development Report.

Aid officials are working to help the youngest victims of theDecember twenty-sixth earthquake and tsunami waves in the IndianOcean.

The United Nations Children's Fund estimates that one andone-half million children were affected in South Asia. UNICEF saysmany have lost their parents or been separated from their families.The agency has estimated that more than one-third of the dead werechildren.

Last week UNICEF appealed for more than one hundred forty milliondollars to assist what it calls the "tsunami generation." Therequest was part of a larger United Nations appeal made Thursday inJakarta.

UNICEF says money is needed for immunization campaigns to preventdisease. Clean drinking water and special feedings for children andpregnant women are also needed. Another aim is to repair schools, sochildren can return to classes as soon as possible.

The head of UNICEF says children must also be protected fromcriminal groups. Carol Bellamy warned that children are at risk ofbeing kidnapped for slavery in the sex trade or forced labor. Shepraised actions taken by the government of Indonesia in heavilydamaged Aceh.

Adoptions of children are now banned in that province. Thegovernment also has barred children under the age of sixteen fromleaving Aceh except with their parents.

UNICEF is setting up camps inIndonesia, Sri Lanka and the other countries affected by thetsunami. Workers will try to reunite children with their parents,extended families and communities. The first step is to identifychildren who are alone.

Some Western families have offered to adopt children whoseparents died in the tsunami. But policies in the affected countries,as well as their own nations, may prevent that at least for now.

The American State Department says any adoptions are probablymany months away. It says adoption professionals believe children ina crisis should be kept as close to their family members andcommunity as possible.

The State Department deplored reports of sex crimes, kidnappingand trafficking in persons in the affected countries. A spokesmansaid there have been enough reports to see a real danger and theneed for quick action. He said officials were "horrified thatthousands of children orphaned by this disaster" are at risk fromcriminals "who seek to profit from their misery."

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by JillMoss. I'm Gwen Outen.