Pakistan fears disease risk in floods
Source: Agencies |
August 3, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
PAKISTAN dispatched medical teams yesterday to the deluged northwest amid fears that cholera could spread after the worst floods in the country's history that have already killed up to 1,200 people, an official said.
The disaster has forced around two million to flee their homes. Residents have railed against the government for failing to provide enough emergency assistance nearly a week after extremely heavy monsoon rains triggered raging floodwaters in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa Province.
Around 250 flood victims blocked a main road in the hard-hit district of Nowshera late on Monday, complaining they had received little or no assistance, according to an Associated Press Television News cameraman at the scene.
The government says it has deployed thousands of rescue workers who have so far saved an estimated 28,000 people and distributed basic food items. The army has also sent some 30,000 troops and dozens of helicopters, but the scale of the disaster is so vast that many residents said it seems like officials are doing nothing. Thousands more people in the province remain trapped by the floodwaters.
The anger of the flood victims poses a danger to the already struggling government, now competing with Islamist movements to deliver aid in a region with strong Taliban influence.
"We need tents. Just look around," said flood victim Faisal Islam, sitting on the only dry ground he could find in Nowshera District - a highway median - surrounded by hundreds of people in makeshift shelters constructed from dirty sheets and plastic tarps.
Like many other residents of Pakistan's northwest, people camped out by the highway in Kamp Koroona village waded through the water to their damaged houses to salvage their remaining possessions: usually just a few mud-covered plates and chairs.
Now people in the northwest also face the threat of waterborne disease - which could kill thousands more if health workers cannot deliver enough clean drinking water and treat and isolate any patients in crowded relief camps.
"To avert the looming threat of spread of waterborne diseases, especially cholera, we have dispatched dozens of mobile medical teams to the affected districts," said Sohail Altaf, the top medical official in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa.
Officials have yet to receive concrete reports of cholera cases, but chances of an outbreak is high, suggested Altaf, adding that patients with stomach problems from dirty water are already being treated in government medical camps.
The disastrous flooding comes at a time when the weak and unpopular Pakistani government is already struggling to cope with a faltering economy and a brutal war against Taliban militants that has killed thousands of people in the past few years.
Pakistan's international partners have tried to bolster the government's response by offering millions of dollars in emergency aid.
The United Nations and the United States announced on Saturday that they would provide US$10 million each in emergency assistance for the flood-hit areas.
The disaster has forced around two million to flee their homes. Residents have railed against the government for failing to provide enough emergency assistance nearly a week after extremely heavy monsoon rains triggered raging floodwaters in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa Province.
Around 250 flood victims blocked a main road in the hard-hit district of Nowshera late on Monday, complaining they had received little or no assistance, according to an Associated Press Television News cameraman at the scene.
The government says it has deployed thousands of rescue workers who have so far saved an estimated 28,000 people and distributed basic food items. The army has also sent some 30,000 troops and dozens of helicopters, but the scale of the disaster is so vast that many residents said it seems like officials are doing nothing. Thousands more people in the province remain trapped by the floodwaters.
The anger of the flood victims poses a danger to the already struggling government, now competing with Islamist movements to deliver aid in a region with strong Taliban influence.
"We need tents. Just look around," said flood victim Faisal Islam, sitting on the only dry ground he could find in Nowshera District - a highway median - surrounded by hundreds of people in makeshift shelters constructed from dirty sheets and plastic tarps.
Like many other residents of Pakistan's northwest, people camped out by the highway in Kamp Koroona village waded through the water to their damaged houses to salvage their remaining possessions: usually just a few mud-covered plates and chairs.
Now people in the northwest also face the threat of waterborne disease - which could kill thousands more if health workers cannot deliver enough clean drinking water and treat and isolate any patients in crowded relief camps.
"To avert the looming threat of spread of waterborne diseases, especially cholera, we have dispatched dozens of mobile medical teams to the affected districts," said Sohail Altaf, the top medical official in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa.
Officials have yet to receive concrete reports of cholera cases, but chances of an outbreak is high, suggested Altaf, adding that patients with stomach problems from dirty water are already being treated in government medical camps.
The disastrous flooding comes at a time when the weak and unpopular Pakistani government is already struggling to cope with a faltering economy and a brutal war against Taliban militants that has killed thousands of people in the past few years.
Pakistan's international partners have tried to bolster the government's response by offering millions of dollars in emergency aid.
The United Nations and the United States announced on Saturday that they would provide US$10 million each in emergency assistance for the flood-hit areas.
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