Outbreak of contagious diseases in Batticaloa district

By Damitha Hemachandra

January 08, 2005

The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry yesterday reported the increasing number of contagious diseases from Batticaloa health administrative division.
The daily assessment report issued by the Epidemiology unit recorded Two hundred and two patients with watery diarrhoea and 419 of respiratory tract infections among 16,319 displaced population in Batticaloa while fourteen patients with dysentery and 3 patients with hepatitis too had been monitored.
According to epidemiology unit sources the increase of diseases are mainly due to lack of clean drinking water and proper sanitary conditions, which are yet to reach the eastern coast of Sri Lanka.
Although there had been water cleaning systems provided to hospitals by some foreign agencies, many displaced at temporary camps do not receive clean drinking water due to unclean wells and the damage to the water supply system.
The unit also reported a trend of chickenpox, mumps and measles among the inhabitants of the temporary shelters in the affected areas, raising concerns of a possible outbreak and requirement of mass vaccination.
Another fear of influenza out break, which was present in Matara and Hambantota raising its head was raised when the number of patients with fever and symptoms of cold reported from the tsunami stuck areas as well as central Sri Lanka increased within the last few days.
Two deaths due to same symptoms had been reported from Matale while extractions from their respiratory track were directed to the Medical Research Institute yesterday.
Meanwhile the Health Services Trade Union Alliance (HSTUA) yesterday called for improved facilities for the volunteers engaged in clearance in the coastal areas.
Most of the volunteers and paid workers in clearance work do not have enough protection gear like masks, gloves and boots to protect them of diseases prevalent in the tsunami hit areas.
Spokesman for HSTUA said that many of these clearance workers and villagers involved in clearance work had reported of skin disease and rash in hands and legs. "Although there is a slow supply of masks, gloves and boots it is not enough to go around," he said calling for the public, donors and government to provide safety gear.

Health unions to promote sanitary habits among tsunami refugees

By Damitha Hemachandra
January 06, 2005

Poor sanitary habits of the displaced people could trigger several diseases if measures were not taken immediately, warned health unions yesterday calling for better awareness and facilities.
The Health Services Trade Union Alliance (HSTUA) said most people in the Tsunami struck area had returned to the use of well water without properly treating the water with chlorine.
"Although there had been a voluntary service of well clearing they have not provided them with necessary disinfectants and had not informed the need of using chlorine before drinking the water," they said.
They called for the relief agencies and the government to provide more water purifying systems to the refugee camps, where there are no facilities to boil or chemically treat water.
DART, a military relief group from Canada meanwhile is to convey four massive water purification units to the hospitals situated in the Eastern coast, each capable of producing 50,000 litres of clean water per day.
HSTUA also called for the Health Ministry to provide better facilities to Kalmunai and Kiniya hospitals, which had been destroyed by the tsunami.
Spokesman for HSTUA, Saman Rathnapriya pointed out that the new building, which has been taken to house the patients lacks basic facilities to deal with the injured and other victims of tsunami and requested the immediate provision of temporary hospital facilities to serve the increasing number of patients.
He pointed that the Kalmunai Hospital too is crowded with nearly 100 hospital staff, who too have lost their houses due to the tidal wave.
The HSTUA would hold five health camps in Balapitiya and Ambalangoda to promote good sanitation habits and distribute rubber slippers, gloves, sanitary pads, masks and chlorine packets to clear water.
The Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) yesterday also complained of donations of pharmaceuticals, which had expired its term of use and called for medical volunteers and doctors who are working to pay a special attention to the expiry dates.
Meanwhile skin diseases, respiratory infections and diarrhoea cases are being reported from the Tsunami struck areas with threats of outbreaks of dengue increasing with the torrential rains in the east.

GMOA calls for better management of drugs and medical aid

By Damitha Hemachandra
January 05, 2005

The GMOA yesterday said that at least 80 air cargo medication stocks sent as tsunami disaster relief were stuck at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) due to the lack of pharmacists to categorise the drugs.
The GMOA also called for a better management of drugs and medical aid through the central medical supply coordinator of the Health Ministry to prevent misuse and mismanagement of pharmaceuticals.
"There are many incidents of drugs and medical care not being directed on demand but purely on political grounds," GMOA secretary, Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya said.
He said that the Sri Lankan government should request the dispatch of necessary medication and medical assistance without blindly accepting any pharmaceuticals or assistance given by foreign donors.
According to Dr. Padeniya, a proper programme of preventive medicine should be launched to prevent the outbreak of contagious diseases.
The GMOA also stressed the need of employing local doctors with the foreign medical volunteers to increase the efficiency and avoid language problems.
The GMOA had suggested to the Director General of Health Services (DGHS) to provide each Medical Officer of Health (MOH) in tsunami struck areas with a group of 15 doctors with epidemiological, paediatric, surgical and other specialisations to handle the present demands while providing them with enough resources relieving each group at the end of three months.
They called upon the government to relocate residential, medical and public services in coastal areas beyond the risk zone of 600 meters to avoid future disasters.
The GMOA meanwhile said yesterday that the government was nearly one week late to act upon the safety of the orphaned and single parent children at refugee camps.
"There is a trend of child disappearances from refugee camps and hospitals while some children were lost due to negligence of the authorities," Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya said stressing the necessity of having temporary centres to house these children away from regular refugee camps.
The GMOA suggested that less occupied district hospitals in the tsunami struck areas could be used for this purpose, since they have the capacity and human and physical resources to house the orphaned children.
They also sought an immediate discussion with the Health Ministry, Probation and Child Care Department, police and the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) to layout an action plan on the future of children orphaned by the tsunami.
Dr. Padeniya revealed that the GMOA is presently holding discussions with the NCPA on ensuring a safe future for orphaned children with plans to rehabilitate them through counselling with the assistance of UNICEF volunteer groups.

Strict buffer zone on coastal belt

By Damitha Hemachandra
January 11, 2005

The government plans to resettle the people, who are now living in environmentally vulnerable and unsafe locations of the affected coastal belt along with the people, who were displaced by the tsunami.
Urban Development Ministry Secretary T. Hewage said all structures excluding essential buildings like ports and harbours would be moved out of the 300 metre coastal buffer zone while the remaining constructions too would be forced to follow strict precautions to prevent future tragedies.
While insisting on the strict implementation of the National Coastal Management Plan Mr. Hewage said any future construction on the coastal line should get permission from the Coast Conservation Department and UDA.
Commenting on the rumours of removing resorts from the coastal belt he said they would be functioning at their own risk but hotels which were increasing sea erosion would have to take strong steps to prevent it

Little Survivor

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

By Damitha Hemachandra

It was early morning last Monday nearly 24 hours after the Tsunami waves hit the southern shores of Sri Lanka. Displaced people from Parathotamulla and Thotamune were taking refuge at Rahula Vidyalaya Matara and among them was little Nirosha.
He was from the shores of Parathotamulla and seem to have forgotten yesterday’s tragedy and did not pay much attention to the fact that his parents not been around. He did not question nor grumble but was skylarking with his friends and was posing for the camera despite his injured leg. However what little Nirosha did not know was that both his parents were gone forever. Nirosha made an odd one among the others, who were mourning the death of their children.
He has an injury in a leg and had been rescued by a neighbour while he was being carried away by the waves.
Nirosha had been playing with a group of friends and many of them had been lucky to survive as a group of youths nearby had helped them to higher grounds. Yet Nirosha’s parents, who were at home had been carried away not knowing that their son was safe and Nirosha was yet to know the destiny of the his parents.
Many people at the refugee camps and the hospital were mourning the death of their children. Children seemed to be the worst hit by the giant waves as they failed to realize how to react which engulfed them in seconds.
Some have died during their sleep tangled in a mosquito net along with their siblings while another had been washed to sea while studying at a tuition class.
Asia UNICEF expressed fears that children are likely to account for more than one third of those killed since virtually no country has a population with less than one third of its population aged 18 years or below.
Children who had survived the first hit of the waves are exposed to epidemics of disease like diarrhea, food poisoning and cholera due to poor sanitation.
First relief supplies destined for Sri Lanka including health supplies for 15,000 people for three moths, 15,000 sachets of oral rehydration salts and 20 tents were air shifted to Sri Lanka from Denmark.
These reliefs also include school-in-box kits to compensate for the school timing lost for the children at refugee camps. Their schoolbooks and other schooling items all gone with the waves these kids would have to start from scratch when returning to school.
However the attention is yet to be shifted to children who had survived the tragedy and were left alone in the world. The tragedy could have left many orphaned children alone and helpless without a proper system to track them and start helping them standup physically and psychologically.
As in the case of Nirosha, who was playing along with his friends not knowing he has to stand alone in the world from that day there could be many children lost and helpless in refugee camps.
While Nirosha was lucky to be among the known people and friends others could be lost among strangers frightened and helpless not knowing whom to turn for help.
The chance of them being traumatized and abused by strangers increase while the state is yet to set up a mechanism, which could establish help and future for these children

Human tragedy after the tidal wave

By Damitha Hemachandra
Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Death hangs heavily on the besieged villages and towns down South with more than five thousand people from down South being reportedly killed by the killer tidal waves, the worst to hit the country ever.
Many people, who were left destitute after their homes were washed away by the waves, are for now too consumed by the loss of their family members even to gauge or grieve the material losses.
A man from Paramulla sits motionless at the entrance to the Matara General Hospital at two 'o' clock in the morning, where 350 ghastly looking dead bodies, mirroring their sufferings, were scattered around the hospital premises. He was away from home having gone to attend a funeral, that was when the gigantic wave hit his home killing his family.
"When I left in the morning my house, my kids and every thing was in place", he said adding that when he returned from Deniyaya his house and his kids were gone.
His little sons had been still asleep when the wave hit his house and the mosquito net was still entangled around their bodies, while they lay dead on the hospital floor.
A foreigner limps around the hospital searching for his nine-year-old daughter, who he thought simply could not be dead. Despite the repeated requests from the hospital staff to look in the morgue, which housed nearly 20 dead bodies of foreigners he limped around in a tattered sarong until he finally found her body at the morgue.
According to the Spokesman for Matara General Hospital only 100 bodies had been claimed upto now. The other bodies would be cremated after being photographed, he said.
Many homeless from Paramulla and Thotamune were camping at Rahula Vidyalaya at Matara.
A man explained how his son couldn't escape the wave when it hit his house situated at the Matara Dutch Fort as he had his door locked.
"All of us escaped upstairs but my eldest son couldn't make it", he said adding that later they found the body trapped inside the room.
However his loss seemed trifling when another stated that he was letting the government perform the last rites of his family members since he was not capable of handling the funeral of four people with their house not there any more.
"My two daughters, mother and sister were washed away to the sea while I hung on to a king-coconut tree", he said failing to look anyone in the eye.
"We all panicked and none of us knew exactly what to do", he said apologetically as if regretting his escape.
The story is common to many individuals, who were housed at Rahula Vidyalaya.
"We lost everything we ever had", Leela, a another woman from Paramulla said pointing to a little boy at this temporary camp making merry with his friends not knowing that both his parents were lost forever.
Dead bodies were still appearing from the least expected places yesterday morning and despite the large number of sightseers who turned up by the dozen, Matara seemed a ghost town.
Buses were lying around the Sanath Jayasuriya grounds like toys in the exact positions the mighty waves had left them in, while most of the shops and buildings were ripped bare.
Layers of dirt and mud could be seen on fences and walls even as high as seven feet indicating the height the tidal waves would have risen to.
Rangana who swam his way to make a narrow escape from his house to the roof of the Matara Bus Stand was boasting of how they managed to rescue a class of students attending a tuition class. It now stands ripped in half.
" But we couldn't save the teacher," he added with grim irony.
Houses around the Matara Fort and many streets near the beach were destroyed beyond recognition. The infrastructure of the town is in bad shape with electricity, telephone and drinking water being inaccessible to many.
The pipe borne water system was damaged by the waves while the wells have been polluted by the saline water and the dirt. Many people who left their homes in search of safety returned on Monday morning to asses the damage. Some were busy cleaning their houses while some just stood in shock.
Many were collecting their important documents and treasured trifles from the rubble while some failed to find even a simple memento of their home.
Although the people in Matara were trying to pick up their lives the situation was too large for many in Galle to handle.
Truckloads of dead bodies kept reaching the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital which compelled the health authorities to take a tough decision on cremating 400 bodies left at the hospital.
"We have no choice and this decision was taken for the sake of maintaining hygiene within the hospital and the town," he said adding that most of the dead were strangers.
Yet more bodies kept turning up during the cleaning up process many being of those who were trapped inside homes.
Many people kept on turning up at Karapitiya Hospital hoping that they would at least find the bodies of their loved ones creating a large crowd around the hospital at all times of the day.
Chaos added to confusion by repeated fresh warnings of new waves. With the fear of an apocalyptic wave still fresh in their mind the crowds took to their heels whenever a warning was raised increasing the tension and traffic.
Traffic, which had grown larger than life, is the biggest challenge one has to contend with in the post-disaster era of the South. With the transportation facilities in the Southern Province yet to return to normal, many hit the road on foot or on cycles searching for their loved ones and thus creating chaos.
Parts of the Galle Road were impassable due to heavy damage like the huge pits in the middle of the road and most of the sections were covered with thick layers of mud. The railway track too was displaced by the waves while many vehicles, which were on the road at the time of the disaster were seen entangled with the railway tracks.
Many roads were closed to the public like the road from Matara to Hambanthota. The Yala National Park and the newly opened Lunugamwehera National Park too would be closed to the public for the next week.
The reconstruction process too was constantly disturbed by cyclists and large crowds on foot, who were either looking for their relatives and friends or just walking around as sightseers. The situation was such that one might even mistake it for Wesak. Many teenagers in their Sunday’s best could be seen roaming the city or staring at the river waiting for another body to show up.