Disease could kill more than tsunami
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Disease could kill more than tsunami*
By Neil Sands in Gizo
April 06, 2007 02:50pm
Article from: Agence France-Presse
* Race against time to stop disease
* Death toll expected to rise
* Hundreds still missing
DISEASE could kill more victims of the Solomon Islands tsunami than the
initial disaster unless more supplies were rushed to devastated areas,
aid workers warned today.
Facing a shortage of clean water and outbreaks of diarrhoea in the
makeshift camps sheltering thousands of displaced survivors, relief
teams were in a race against the clock to prevent a difficult situation
from getting worse.
"The issue now is getting drinking water into the camps and setting up
latrines,'' said aid worker Martin Thomas of World Vision in Gizo, one
of the areas worst hit by the tragedy.
"It's the tropics. There's a shortage of fresh water and sanitary
conditions are not good,'' Mr Thomas said.
"In these conditions diarrhoea can be fatal, particularly in children.''
The Government acknowledged the difficulties, saying: "The latest report
revealed that access to clean drinking water and general sanitation on
Gizo Island is very poor.''
At least 34 people were killed and 5500 people displaced after an
8.0-magnitude earthquake struck the western Solomon Islands on Monday,
triggering a tsunami that smashed into coastal villages and towns.
Waves up to 5m high also knocked out water tanks and contaminated wells
with sea water, resulting in an acute shortage of clean water - and
meaning even more people could die in coming days.
"Simple hygiene can save lives. If disease takes hold the death toll
could be greater than the tsunami itself,'' Mr Thomas said.
The death toll could also rise as aid workers painstakingly make their
way to remote areas cut off since the disaster.
"We're finding a lot of fresh graves when we go into the outlying
communities,'' he said.
As many as 50,000 people - half the population of the country's Western
and Choiseul provinces -- may have been affected by the disaster,
according to the United Nations.
Amid continuing aftershocks, residents afraid to return to those homes
still standing in low lying areas remain in makeshift camps on higher
ground.
About 2000 people are in camps on the hills behind Gizo.
Loads of aid from New Zealand, Australia and the French territory of New
Caledonia have arrived in the country.
Red Cross worker Suzy Chippendale said water purification tablets had
been distributed to all Gizo camps and a filtration system had been
installed at the roadside medical centre set up after the hospital was
damaged in the tsunami.
She said a UNICEF portable hospital was also being set up on Gizo island
and a French military plane was expected to airlift aid from Honiara for
a second successive day, with the air strip at Gizo now reopened.
In Australia, Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs Greg Hunt said
up to 100 people were still missing in the Solomons, a remote
archipelago nation east of Australia.
"We are preparing for a worsening of the known numbers of the dead,'' Mr
Hunt said on ABC radio.
"There may be tens, perhaps up to a hundred missing,'' he said.