Aid appeal for Lagos blast victims

More help is needed for displaced people

		By Dan Isaacs in Nigeria

The UN Children's Fund in Nigeria says that 4,000 children are still being cared for in temporary camps for the displaced in the city of Lagos following the explosions in an army weapons dump five days ago.

At least 700 people are now known to have died in a stampede to escape the blasts on Sunday night.

A spokesman for UNICEF, Bacaloy Warratey, told the BBC that although many hundreds are still listed as missing, the process of uniting families is proceeding as well as can be expected.

Medical supplies, cooking equipment and other essentials are also being provided for those in need, he said.

It has taken a few days, but a well organised humanitarian effort is now in place for those displaced by the munitions dump fire.

Many of those missing are young children

Local and international agencies have coordinated to set up two camps, each housing around 2,000 people.

They are being provided with essential food and medicines and mobile toilets have been installed to reduce the risk of disease.

Lists have been drawn up of those in the camps and those still unaccounted for, around 500 says the Red Cross.

But it believes that many of those will either be found among the camp residents or have fled to relatives in Lagos or further afield.

Children's safety

Agencies such as the Red Cross and UNICEF have been keen to point out that reports of children being held against their will or of having been abducted are not true.

Click here for a map of the area

In the first few days after the explosions some children had been sheltering in police stations in the area and local police officers had been cautious not to hand them over to parents without the appropriate authorisation.

But this is no longer the case, and the two organised camps are linking up families more systematically.

However, much more help is still needed to cope with a disaster of this magnitude and the Red Cross and other organisations have launched international appeals for assistance.

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