As flood waters and mudslides continue to immerse large swaths of the South American country of Bolivia, Medical Assistance Programs (MAP) International is rushing medical relief supplies to thousands of people who have fled the rising waters. Working with staff from MAP's Bolivia office as well as the Bolivian government and various partner organizations, MAP has shipped more than a quarter of a million dollars in emergency medical and other provisions to assist people who have fled their homes due to the flooding.
Plagued by poverty as well as social and political unrest, Bolivia is the poorest country in South America and now faces hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. Bolivian President Evo Morales has declared a national disaster as floodwaters have inundated crops, roads, bridges, buildings and thousands of homes. Entire cities have been swamped, and 30,000 square miles of the Amazon province of Bani - an area roughly the size of Austria - is under water. Since November, when La Nina's chaotic climate cycle began dumping torrents of rain into South American countries along or near the Pacific coast, floodwaters have killed at least 51 people in Bolivia alone and has forced thousands of its people to seek shelter on higher ground. Many have swum or waded to safety through the muddied, murky water. Brazil and Chile have sent helicopters to help pluck survivors off rooftops.
Recently, rushing water topped a highway guarding the Bolivian city of Trinidad, threatening another 95,000 residents in the Amazon region. Tent cities have sprung up in areas around Trinidad and elsewhere, filled with people escaping the deluge. Food, clean drinking water and medical care is often sparse, and waterborne diseases spread easily. Diarrhea spawned by ingestion of the polluted water is one of the most pressing problems and, if left untreated, can cause severe dehydration and death.
MAP's emergency shipment, which will serve more than 30,000 people, includes oral rehydration salts to combat diarrhea. The shipment also contains antibiotics to treat various diseases common in such environments.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
A cow rests in the water in the outskirts of flooded Trinidad some 500 km (310 miles) northeast of La Paz, February 13, 2008.Floods have forced thousands of people from their ...
