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LABUTTA, Myanmar: Tens of thousands of shocked survivors of cyclone
Nargis’s attack in Myanmar flocked to this town, trekking through
are floodwaters littered with bloated bodies, an Agence France-Presse
reporter said Wednesday.
The town of Labutta, the center of a community
of 90,000 people before Saturday’s disaster, is itself devastated;
with virtually no food or fresh water, and residents are sharing
meager supplies of wild rice with the new arrivals.
Labutta, at the mouth of the Irrawaddy river
delta which bore the brunt of cyclone Nargis’s fury, was
completely submerged as waters soared more than six meters (20 feet)
high, covering even the tops of trees, residents told Agence France-Presse.
“The people have no emotion left on their
faces. They have never seen anything like this before,” one
witness told Agence France-Presse of the desperate survivors
arriving here from surrounding villages that were totally wiped out.
“They have lost their families, they have
nowhere to stay, and they have nothing to eat. They don’t know
what the future will bring,” he said.
Around the town, blackened bodies of people and
animals, already rotting in the intense tropical heat, washed up to
roadsides as floodwaters receded.
Five days after cyclone Nargis crashed into one
of the world’s poorest countries, killing more than 22,000 people,
medical organizations say they are still trying to assess the impact
in the remote worst-hit areas. There are still about 41,000 people
missing.
Looming health crisis
Aid experts on Wednesday had already warned of a
looming health crisis in Myanmar, where millions of cyclone victims
face outbreaks of disease as they struggle to survive without clean
water, food or shelter.
With the repressive military regime blocking
access to foreign relief workers, and huge logistical hurdles in
accessing the inundated disaster zone, precious little supplies have
reached victims so far.
Group Save the Children said it believed
millions were homeless and there were worrying reports that Pyinkaya
town in the southwest of the delta, home to 150,000 people, had had
no supplies of food or clean water since the storm hit.
“Assistance hasn’t reached them yet and they
are dying, completely isolated,” said the group’s Myanmar
country director, Andrew Kirkwood.
Experts warned that such conditions were ripe
for disease and injury.
International SOS, an international health care
provider with an office in Yangon, has issued warnings over the risk
of tetanus, salmonella, typhoid, malaria, diarrhea, Hepatitis A and
a multitude of other illnesses.
Their initial findings show the biggest problem
is water.
Flooding and broken pipes have allowed sewage,
toxic chemicals and groundwater into the supply. Polluted water
makes cleanliness near impossible, and drinking it increases the
risk of catching gastrointestinal diseases, International SOS
Indo-China Region Director Uwe Stocker said.
-- AFP
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