Posted on 12/28/2004 4:57:23 AM PST by Critical Bill
COLOMBO (AFP) - As rotting bodies stack up and contaminate water supplies across Asia, fears grew that sickness will pile more misery on a region reeling two days on from its worst disaster in living memory.
With infrastructure, including latrines and water wells, in the worst hit areas in tatters, international organisations urged that the thousands of bloated corpses littering beaches, streets and makeshift morgues be disposed of quickly to stem the threat of disease.
"The people should be buried and the animals should be destroyed and disposed of before they infect the drinking water. It's a massive operation,"
said UN disaster relief coordinator Jan Egeland.
Experts said that though the risk of epidemics varied from country to country according to their standards of hygiene, hot temperatures, poor to nonexistent sewerage and spoiled food provided breeding grounds for germs.
In particular, the decomposing bodies contaminating water would provide ideal conditions for water-borne diseases such as cholera, typhoid and malaria.
"The biggest health challenges we are facing are the spread of waterborne diseases, particularly malaria and diarrhoea, as well as respiratory tract infections," said International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies health official Hakan Sandbladh.
(Excerpt) Read more at turkishpress.com ...
Hmmmm, wonder if they could use some Israeli medical help.
Nice to see all the middle eastern countries falling over themselves to send aide to their Muslim bretheren.
/sarcasm
Yes, and I just read on Drudge that the UN is calling the US "stingy" in their aid to this disaster. Of course, what else would one expect. The US is always the devil.
Apparently not. Sigh.
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