International relief poured into western India today as the threat of disease lurked over tens of thousands of homeless earthquake survivors.
|
|
Relatives watch as bodies of earthquake victims are cremated in Ahmedabad
|
In the village of Lodai, near the epicentre of Friday's quake, the local doctor said some people had already fallen sick, including four children under three, probably from drinking contaminated water.
There have been reports trickling in of people coming down with diarrhoea, Red Cross official Mr Patrick Fuller told reporters.
"I think it is inevitable in a situation like this when there is no running water...when you have kids playing in the rubble, the carcasses of animals and dead bodies are around", he said.
No one knows for certain how many people died in the earthquake, India's worst disaster in half a century, which hit the western state of Gujarat on Friday.
Defence Minister George Fernandes has said up to 100,000 could have died in a worst case scenario, while Bob McKerrow, head of the delegation of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said today reports from the regions pointed to a death toll of some 50,000.
"The state government of Gujarat has estimated the death toll at 24,000 to 25,000", P.K. Lehari, principle secretary to the state chief minister told reporters.
Anything more than that looks quite exaggerated. Though a 55-year-old woman was plucked from the rubble in the main city of Ahmedabad in the early hours of this morning, rescuers in their sixth day of a massive search and relief operation had all but given up hope of finding anyone else alive.
The injured woman was the latest to be found. But Jyotsnabhen Gandhi was so badly hurt doctors had to amputate both legs and one arm after her rescue.
Relief workers and at least 20,000 Indian soldiers raced to clear rubble and dig out decomposing corpses across Gujarat.
There is no risk in itself of diseases associated with dead bodies, according to the World Health Organisation.
But as survivors prepared to spent their sixth night in the open, officials said there was a real risk of illnesses bred by the unhygienic conditions of post-quake life on the street.
There is a risk that people can get diarrhoeal diseases such as gastroenteritis and water contaminated with bacteria can also cause typhoid and cholera, Mr Fuller said.
Reuters