Fears of water-borne diseases in areas affected by tsunami

Please note that the amount pledged by the Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) is US $50,000, not $550,000 as reported in the earlier version of this story

The Indian Ocean tsunami that slammed onto the Somali coast 10 days ago destroyed water sources and sanitation facilities on Hafun peninsula, putting up to 1,000 households at risk of water-borne diseases, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said. "UNICEF is positioning antibiotics, ORS [oral rehydration salts] and chlorination packages in Hafun out of concern that water-borne diseases could break out," Bob McCarthy, UNICEF Somalia emergency officer, told IRIN on Wednesday. "We are also supporting water-trucking, trying to reinforce health services and looking to other areas subject to assessments confirming the extent of needs," he added.

The agency, which was planning to distribute blankets, jerry cans, soap, cooking utensils and plastic sheeting in the area, said about 2,000 children had been affected in Hafun alone. "We want to do everything possible to ensure that their education is not disrupted," McCarthy added. He added: "We are drawing on our stocks in Bosasso to get help to those affected and reinforcing our supplies from Hargeysa and Bosasso. The people in Hafun were caught off guard. We are also looking at those who were stressed and feel it is still unsafe to return to their homes along the seafront."

UNICEF, in a statement issued on 30 December, said it was mounting a rapid relief effort targeting about 15,000 affected people, especially in Hafun where 80 percent of the homes were destroyed. "Puntland has been hardest hit," UNICEF Somalia representative, Jesper Morch, was quoted as saying in the statement. "This comes at a time when Puntland has been suffering from severe and long-running drought." Hafun is located in Puntland.

The agency said ascertaining the extent of the damage had been difficult due to the extensive coastline and the high number of remote villages. However, the immediate concerns, it added, included prevention of water-borne diseases, food provisions and basic shelter. "Reports indicate that people are drinking contaminated water and struggling to find food," the statement said.

The tsunami in the Indian Ocean struck the Horn of Africa coastline on 26 December and affected about 18,000 households containing about 54,000 people, according to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Many of those affected were living in small villages along the coastline. In addition to the death of 150 people, a large number of shelters were either damaged or destroyed, wells washed away and a large number of fishing boats and equipment lost. Relief workers said they were having difficulty reaching various affected areas that stretch out along 650 km of Somali coastline. Existing road tracks had become impassable, while the main bridge linking the Hafun peninsula to the mainland was washed away.

In Nairobi, the Chinese government donated US $100,000 to the Somali transitional federal government as emergency assistance, Xinhua news agency reported. The donation was handed to the interim president Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed by Guo Chongli, China's ambassador to Kenya, the news agency said on Tuesday. McCarthy said UNICEF Somalia, which is working with a local NGO in Hafun and in coordination with OCHA, had received a pledge of $50,000 from the Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance.

The tsunami also hit Tanzania, where at least 10 people, mostly children, died and Kenya, where at least one person died. It also caused damage in the Indian Ocean islands of the Seychelles and Madagascar. The worst damage was in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, The Maldives, Malaysia and Myanmar, where at least 150,000 people are believed to have been killed by the surging waves.  

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

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