The danger of electrocution from submerged powerpoints and diseases from rotting animal carcasses are big concerns
BANGKOK (AlertNet) – Water-borne diseases, electrocution and drowning are some of the biggest concerns for the 2.45 million people affected by Thailand’s worst floods in half a century, aid agencies told AlertNet.
Hundreds of thousands of people have also lost their jobs and food prices have soared due to crop losses and transport difficulties.
The floods, which began in July and caused in part by unusually heavy monsoon rain, have killed 437 people, the latest situation report from the United Nations said.
“The top risks and cause of death are drowning, water-borne diseases (such as dengue fever and severe diarrhoea) and electrocution from submerged power points,” Renate Vuuren, spokesperson for World Vision in Thailand, told AlertNet.
“Millions of livestock have perished in the floods, so diseases spreading by decomposing carcasses are a huge concern,” she added.
The government said there had not been any fatal disease outbreaks. But there have been cases of conjunctivitis and diarrhoea among the 100,000 people sheltering in 160 evacuation centres, the United Nations said, citing the Thailand Disease Control Department.
Some 26 of Thailand’s 76 provinces remain inundated. People are living surrounded by dirty water and in overcrowded shelters with insufficient sanitation. The Thai government has said the flooding could last another month.
Aid agencies said drinking water, medicines, generators and hygiene and survival kits are urgently needed.
Sunan Samrianrum, Plan International’s acting country director for Thailand, said his agency is especially concerned about children, infants, mothers, pregnant women and the elderly who might not be getting the extra care they need and are more susceptible to water-borne diseases.
“There is also a lack of awareness about the risk of infant feeding in emergency,” he added, especially the need to take additional precautions when making up formula milk with water.
U.N. agencies estimate 800,000 children and 800,000 elderly are among the affected.
COMMUNITIES CUT OFF
Access remains one of the biggest challenges with some communities cut off by water. Many highways and roads are only navigable by boat.
A total of 73 highways in 15 provinces remain impassable and 24 roads in suburban Bangkok are closed to traffic, the United Nations said.
In some of the most affected areas in Ayutthya, Uthai Thani, Chainart, Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani and northern districts of Bangkok, only the military and police have access using military trucks and boats.
Save the Children spokesperson Annie Bodmer-Roy said most of those affected by the floods chose to remain in their homes surrounded by water. They have “little access to the basic necessities to keep them alive", she added.
Many have refused to leave partly for fear they might lose their possessions.
“Having to travel from home to home to deliver relief is very time consuming and costly,” said World Vision’s Vuuren.
As the waters continue to spread through Bangkok, there are also concerns that some flood shelters may be affected, meaning people will have to be evacuated again, Plan’s Samrianrum said.
A LONG REBUILDING PERIOD
Many people have lost their livelihoods and children have had their education disrupted. Rebuilding and recovery will be long and difficult, agencies say.
“While government has extended school holidays in some harder hit areas by two weeks, Save the Children’s concern is that the damage done to thousands of schools will mean that many won’t be able to open their doors right away,” Bodmer-Roy said.
The closure of seven flooded industrial estates in central Chao Phraya river basin meant hundreds of thousands of workers, including many migrants from impoverished Myanmar, have lost their main source of income.
Meanwhile, the government has estimated it could lose a quarter of its main rice crop due to the floods, raising serious concerns for workers reliant on harvest income.
Bodmer-Roy said crop losses as well as difficulties getting food into flooded markets have led to sharp rises in the price of food, making it harder for families – now without a stable income – to put food on the table for their children.
“Usually, once the media attention and political interest die down, families are left to fend for themselves,” said Vuuren from World Vision.
“That is when agencies like ourselves have a huge gap to fill – to help these families pick up the pieces of their lives.”
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