Children's height affected by natural disasters, claim scientists

Children born around the time of the great floods in Peru 17 years ago have stunted growth by several centimetres. Researcher William Checkley of John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, maintains that the stunted growth may have resulted from a shortfall in nutrition when the crops were damaged in the floods. Other factors may include diarrhea due to the dirty drinking water and a lack of access to health care.

The El Nino events of 1997-1998 were severe, causing 16 times as much rain as usual in a coastal region of Peru called Tumbes in the country’s northwest. The floods limited road access, isolating villages for months. In 2008-2009 Checkley and his researchers visited 59 villages in the region and measured the heights and weights of more than 2000 children aged between 7 and 17 years.

Before 1997 children had been gradually gaining height. Each year, on average, children gained 0.6 centimetres more than children of the same age the year before. After 1997 the trend reversed. Children born during the El Nino period were on average 0.3 centimetres shorter than they would have been if the gains in height had continued. Children from flood-prone villages were 4 centimetres shorter. During this time the banana and rice crops were damaged, and diseases such as diarrhea and malaria increased.

The effects on children’s height persisted for children born at least three years after the El Nino. The El Nino Southern Oscillation is a cyclical weather event that happens every two to seven years when warming at the surface of the Pacific Ocean brings more rainfall to the Americas.

Checkley warned that stunted growth could have lasting effects on the children’s physical and mental health, and emphasized the need for early warning systems so that flood defences and aid supplies could be increased.

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