UN sees looming health crisis from South Asia floods

UN sees looming health crisis from South Asia floods
source: Daily Times.com.pk

* Rain, blocked roads hinder relief efforts g Canada offers emergency aid relief

GENEVA: Millions of people could fall ill with malaria, dengue fever and other diseases if emergency aid does not reach those stranded by floodwaters in South Asia within days, the United Nations warned on Tuesday.

The UN Children’s Fund UNICEF said stagnant waters left behind after intense monsoons in India, Bangladesh and Nepal were “a lethal breeding ground” for diarrhoeal and water-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. “Entire villages are days away from a health crisis if people are not reached in the coming days,” UNICEF’s health chief for India, Marzio Babille, said in a statement.

World Health Organisation (WHO) spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said acute respiratory and skin infections, food-borne ailments and snake bites were also threatening the 30 million people affected by flash flooding in the region. Many people in affected areas are relying on dirty surface water for their basic needs, with water sources contaminated or still submerged in the wake of the floods.

“The main problem is access to clean water and sanitation,” Chaib told a news briefing, noting that UN agencies, other aid groups and governments were working to ensure water, rehydration salts and other medical supplies reached those in need. Many remote communities and villages are only accessible by boat or through air drops, and security concerns in some areas has further hindered efforts to deliver humanitarian aid, UNICEF spokeswoman Veronique Taveau said.

More rain and blocked roads have delayed efforts to help 300,000 people in southern Nepal hit by major flooding, amid fears of a rise in water-borne illnesses, officials said Tuesday. “We are concerned about water-borne diseases like diarrhea, dysentery and typhoid,” Arjun Bahadur Singh, Nepal’s health ministry spokesman, told AFP.

“There is no shortage of medicine. However, accessibility is a problem: highways are blocked, there is no transportation and it is very hard for our medical response teams to get to some of the worst affected areas,” he said.

Flooding eased in most parts of Bangladesh on Tuesday with major improvements expected over the coming days, the head of country’s flood centre said, but the death toll rose to 290. “All the major rivers are receding fast. Except in the eastern part of the capital, we will now see some dramatic improvement from later today (Tuesday),” said Saiful Hossain, the head of the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre.

The flood centre monitors the water level of all the major rivers in Bangladesh and India. However, at least eight more deaths were reported Tuesday, mostly children who drowned in swirling waters, taking the death toll from the last two weeks’ floods to 164, government spokesman Golam Kibria said.

Canada offers aid relief:Canada pledged one million dollars (950,000 US dollars) in emergency aid relief Monday for victims of devastating floods that have hit India, Bangladesh and Nepal. “Canada is deeply saddened by the tragic loss of life and by the destruction that has occurred over the past few weeks in Bangladesh, India and Nepal,” Foreign Minister Peter MacKay said in a statement. “Canada stands with these countries as they carry out their relief efforts,’ he said. agencies

Over 16,000 families displaced by floods; death toll hits 72

Over 16,000 families displaced by floods; death toll hits 72

Nearly 80,000 people of 16,000 families have been displaced due to floods and landslides in different parts of the country.

According to the Home Ministry’s Central Natural Disaster Rescue and Relief Coordination Centre, altogether 72 people have died in floods and landslides. Officials said the government had speeded up the rescue and relief efforts in the flood-hit areas in Terai districts with the help of security agencies and other organisations.

Four Nepal Army helicopters and one each helicopter from the UNMIN and Simrik Air are being mobilised for distribution of relief materials in flood-hit areas in Terai.

Officials also informed that the relief amount for the families of the victims of natural calamities had been increased to Rs 25,000 each from the earlier Rs 15,000.

At least nine flood-related deaths were reported Sunday alone. Reports said four persons died in Siraha, two each in Mahottari and Bara while the body of a child missing in floods in Rautahat was recovered today.

Additionally, there were unconfirmed reports of five children of a same family in Nawalparasi being swept away in floods. nepalnews.com
sd/mk Jul 29 07

Death toll from deadly deluge 40

Himalayan News Service
Rautahat, July 29:

The death toll due to floods and landslides triggered by incessant rains reached 40 today, with thousands of houses remaining waterlogged in most districts of the country’s Tarai region.
In Jhapa district, 30-year-old Anupa Magar of Rajgarh-6 was swept away by the Bhutni Khola today, said the area police office.
In Mahottari district, 54-year-old Banarasi Chaudhari of Badiya’s Banchauri-4 died in a house collapse last evening, said the district police office.
Rautahat’s Sapgadha-10 resident Faizul haque’s six-year-old daughter Anjuman Khatun drowned last night in Bakaiya River near her house. Her body was recovered today, said the area police office.
A pregnant Shakuntala Devi, 30, of Rampur Khap-4, also died last night when she could not get medical treatment on time, said her husband Ram Kishore Kushwaha. In Bara, Pritam Kumari, the two-year-old daughter of Moti Mahara of Prasauna-9, drowned in a stream last night when water from the flooded Teear khola swamped the stream, said a local Jan Bahadur Shah.
Thousands of families have been displaced due to the floods in Morang, Jhapa, Sunsari, Saptari, Sarlahi, Siraha, Dhanusha, Mahottari, Rautahat, Bara, Parsa, Nawalparasi, Kapilvastu, Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, Rupandehi, Udaypur and other districts. In Mahottari, Ram Sakhi Paswan of Pipra VDC died today when his house collapsed.
Kapil Dev Lal Karna of Suda VDC and a 15-day-old infant of Jaleshwor died of pneumonia caused by flood waters today, police said.

Hospital collapses due to heavy downpour in Nepal

International
Hospital collapses due to heavy downpour in Nepal

Kathmandu, July 25 (Xinhua): A two-storey building of the 125- year-old Jaleswor hospital in Mahottari district in central Nepal collapsed due to the heavy downpour, leaving scores of patients stranded in the hospital, the National News Agency RSS reported on Wednesday.

The roof in the western front of the building crumbled and the wall is on the verge of collapse. All rooms of in-door department are inundated with rainwater, the RSS reported.

The patients in the ward are now being transfered to the building of Family Planning Association of Nepal.

Likewise, rainfall has been a problem in obstetric service, obstetric room and isolation ward in another building of in-door department.

In the flood-hit district, some 130 km south of Kathmandu, the number of viral fever patients visiting hospitals and health centers have gone up in the past one week.

Most of the rural areas in the district are in the grip of the disease. Most of the patients visiting the district hospital in Jaleshwor have fever, a health worker Anita Sharma, said.

A sudden surge in the mercury level and polluted water may have caused the spread of the disease, said the head of the district hospital Dr Pawan Thakur.

"The viral fever may develop into kala-zar and typhoid if patients don't get timely medical treatment," Thakur added.

Source: The Hindu