Flooded East Africa braces for disease outbreak
Pastor Dale Morgan
Flooded East Africa braces for disease outbreak*
23 Nov 2006 15:17:00 GMT
Source: Reuters
NAIROBI, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Thousands of people displaced by massive
flooding in east Africa face outbreaks of cholera, diarrhoea and other
waterborne diseases unless they are provided with safe drinking water
soon, aid workers say.
The U.N. says 1.8 million people have been affected by torrential rains
which have pounded parts of Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan
in recent weeks killing hundreds and uprooting thousands.
"Now after the floods we know that we are going to be confronted by
waterborne diseases, particularly cholera. We are trying to brace
ourselves for the worst case scenario," said Neima Temporal, the head of
the U.N. refugee agency in Dadaab, on the Kenya-Somali border.
She said that for the past 10 days, people in the refugee camps had been
drinking contaminated water.
The floods have submerged villages, washed away bridges and destroyed
crops and livestock making it difficult to get aid to victims still trapped.
In Somalia, officials said eight people, seven of them children, had
died in Baidoa, where the interim government is based, after drinking
unsafe water in the past two days.
"These people have been affected by water related diarrhoea due to the
floods and heavy rain falls in some southern Somali regions," Hasan
Abayle Aden, chairman of Horseed village in Baidoa, told Reuters by
telephone.
Doctors at Baidoa's main hospital said they had also been treating
people suffering from malaria.
"We do not have enough medicine to meet the needs of these patients,"
said Abdulqadir Goley, a volunteer doctor.
French humanitarian agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said in a
statement they had confirmed two cases of cholera in Somalia, and
suspected there were several more.
"Local sources estimate that over 70 percent of (water sources) are now
contaminated due to flooding ... this brings a greater risk of
water-borne infections," the statement said.
In Kenya, government spokesman Alfred Mutua said there were some cases
of cholera reported in the worst hit coastal and northeastern provinces,
but added that the situation was under control. He did not say how many
cases were reported.
"Only eight people had been reported killed by the floods contrary to
media reports," he added.
Mutua said 90 students trapped in their schools had been airlifted to
safer grounds by police helicopters.
According to Kenya's meteorological department, the rains are expected
to continue to mid-January.
(Additional reporting by Bosire Nyairo in Nairobi and Guled Mohamed in
Somalia)