After December's tsunami devastated 12 Asian nations, authorities worked furiously and admirably to address public health, including ensuring there was clean water to stem the spread of disease. But nobody could predict that the toll of 280,000 killed or missing would leave three times as many women dead as men - an outcome that's developing into a significant social problem.
Today, there are as many as 10 men to every woman in some Indonesian villages. In parts of Sri Lanka and India, 80 percent of the villagers killed were women. Add to that death toll the possibility that another 2,000 people could be dead as a result of Monday's earthquake in Indonesia.
It's a serious problem that's forcing surviving women to cope with various forms of abuse, including sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape. Some are being forced into arranged and unwanted marriages.
Why did so many women die? One possibility already expressed is that the men were lucky enough to be at work in the fields or fishing when the 9.0 undersea earthquake struck in the India Ocean, sending walls of water crashing onto seacoasts in southeast Asian countries. Another theory suggests the women were too modest to free themselves from their long saris and other draping attire so they could swim to safety.
Both views could be correct, and the issue could be debated for years. However, what's important at this time is that the surviving women be protected from potential abusers, no matter what form it takes. Aceh's village of Lamsenia was home to 833 people before the tsunami. After the tragic events of Dec. 26, there were only 35 women among the town's 158 survivors.
The outlook is worrisome. Besides being raped or forced into hasty marriages, women in the affected countries also are likely to be pressured into having many children, to begin the process of replacing a depleted generation of children lost in the tsunami.That may be the only way to restore some gender balance in the population, but it should not be forced upon the unwilling.
Indonesia has offered Acehnese leaders a five-year, $4.3 billion reconstruction plan, a massive infusion of cash.
But if reconstruction efforts don't in some way begin to address the demographic distortion caused by the tsunami, its terrible legacy will live on long after the infrastructure is rebuilt.
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