Reuters AlertNet Lite - Flooded East Africa braces for disease outbreak

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Flooded East Africa braces for disease outbreak

23 Nov 2006 15:17:00 GMT
Source: Reuters

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Residents in the northeast Kenyan town of Garissa, 390km (242 miles) from the capital Nairobi, carry carpets as they wade through water, after the River Tana burst its banks, flooding most of the settlements along the river.
REUTERS/Daud Yussuf

Background

• E. African floods

• Somalia troubles

• Sudan conflicts

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By Wangui Kanina

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)

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Last updated:Thu Nov 23 15:56:51 2006