UN: Up to 3.5 million children at risk of deadly (water-borne) diseases (in Pakistan)

[Turborama]

Source: Dawn

The United Nations estimates that up to 3.5 million children are at high risk from deadly water-borne diseases in Pakistan as a result of the country's devastating floods, a UN spokesman said Monday.

Maurizio Giuliano, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), said the World Health Organisation was also preparing to assist tens of thousands of people in case of cholera.

“WHO is preparing to assist up to 140,000 people in case there is any cholera, but the government has not notified us of any confirmed case,” the spokesman told AFP.

“Up to 3.5 million children are at high risk of deadly water-borne diseases including diarrhoea-related, such as watery diarrhoea and dysentery,” he said, estimating the total number at risk from such diseases at six million.

Typhoid, hepatitis A and E are also concerns, he said.

Read more: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/04-pakistan-children-at-risk-diseases-qs-09

---

Death toll rises in Pakistan flooding

(CNN) -- The death toll from flooding that has ravaged Pakistan for more than two weeks is up to 1,463, the country's Disaster Authority said Monday.

More than 895,200 houses have been damaged, and more than 2,000 people have been injured, the agency said. One-fifth of the country is under water. Roughly 900,000 are homeless as a result of the catastrophe.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Sunday that while he has visited sites of natural disasters around the world, he has never seen anything like the devastation created by flooding in Pakistan. He said the disaster is worse than the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2005 Pakistani earthquake combined.

"Thousands of towns and villages have simply been washed away," Ban said, speaking alongside Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari. "Roads, buildings, bridges, crops -- millions of livelihoods have been lost. People are marooned on tiny islands with the floodwaters all around them. They are drinking dirty water. They are living in the mud and ruins of their lives. Many have lost family and friends. Many more are afraid their children and loved ones will not survive in these conditions."

Full article (including video): http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/08/16/pakistan.floods/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn#fbid=5tFS21of5oJ&wom=false

[Drops_not_Dope]

1. just for a Wake-up

More than 895,200 houses have been damaged, and more than 2,000 people have been injured, the agency said. One-fifth of the country is under water. Roughly 900,000 are homeless as a result of the catastrophe.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Sunday that while he has visited sites of natural disasters around the world, he has never seen anything like the devastation created by flooding in Pakistan. He said the disaster is worse than the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2005 Pakistani earthquake combined.

"Thousands of towns and villages have simply been washed away," Ban said, speaking alongside Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari. "Roads, buildings, bridges, crops -- millions of livelihoods have been lost. People are marooned on tiny islands with the floodwaters all around them. They are drinking dirty water. They are living in the mud and ruins of their lives. Many have lost family and friends. Many more are afraid their children and loved ones will not survive in these conditions."

[cosmicone]

2. Dupe n/t

[OhioChick]

6. Didn't know you were a mod.

:eyes:

God forbid there "possibly" be 2 threads about dead/dying Pakistani children.

[sabrina 1]

10. I am glad to see this, I had not seen it before. But why

would you object to people learning about the plight of children who are victims of disasters? Imo, there has been far too little coverage of this disaster and I am glad to see now that it is getting more coverage on television.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

14. me too

[cosmicone]

18. It is the same Ban ki Moon story of his visit and comments

If Obama gives a speech and it appears on CNN, NBC, NY Times and WaPO, DU combines the threads.

In this case it is Ban ki Moon's visit and speech which has been covered here http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4504510&mesg_id=4504510

[Drops_not_Dope]

3. sorry I forgot to rec so kicking and rec'd

seems someone had pissy pants though and unrec'd since I posted last. Back to 3 now...

[Turborama]

4. BBC: Millions of Pakistan children at risk of flood diseases

August 16 2010 Last updated at 14:19 GMT

Up to 3.5 million children are at high risk from deadly water-borne diseases in Pakistan following the country's floods, a UN spokesman has said.

In southern Pakistan, floods continue to cause havoc with water surging from the province of Sindh to neighbouring Balochistan.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who visited Pakistan, said the floods were the worst disaster he had seen.

However, the UN has so far only raised a fraction of the aid it has asked for.

"Up to 3.5 million children are at high risk of deadly water-borne diseases, such as watery diarrhoea and dysentery," Maurizio Giuliano, spokesman for the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), is quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

Full article and videos: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10984477

[OhioChick]

5. The news keeps worsening as the days pass....

:(

K&R

[Turborama]

7. "The speed with which the situation is deteriorating is frightening"

Pakistan floods: 3.5 million children at risk from deadly diseases, says UN

Shortage of clean water raises health fears as fresh protests erupt over slow delivery of aid

Sam Jones and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Monday August 16 2010

The UN said today that 3.5 million children in Pakistan are at risk from deadly waterborne diseases, as fresh protests erupted over the slow delivery of aid in the flood-ravaged country.

=snip=

Delays in aid delivery and the continuing threat of further floods have resulted in widespread public anger that could bring political trouble for an unpopular government overwhelmed by the disaster, which has disrupted the lives of at least one-tenth of Pakistan's 170 million people.

=snip=

Last night, hundreds of villagers in the Punjab, the country's most populous and worst-hit province, burned tyres and chanted "down with the government". "We are dying of hunger here. No one has showed up to comfort us," said Hafiz Shabbir, a protester in Kot Addu.

Neva Khan, Oxfam's country director in Pakistan, said: "The speed with which the situation is deteriorating is frightening. Communities desperately need clean water, latrines and hygiene supplies, but the resources currently available cover only a fraction of what is required."

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/16/pakistan-floods-children-disease

Interactive visualization - Aid to Pakistan as of 16 August 2010: http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/aid-to-pakistan-as-of-16-august-20

[Turborama]

8. NYT: With Aid Slow, U.N. Sees Worse Disaster in Pakistan

Pakistani army soldiers rescued villagers from flooded areas in Khangarh near Multan,
Pakistan on Monday.


By SALMAN MASOOD and WAQAR GILLANI
Published: August 16, 2010

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — With flooding affecting a fifth of Pakistan and worsening by the day, United Nations officials said Monday that a shortage of aid funds was leaving some six million people, the majority of them children and infants, at risk of potentially lethal diseases borne by dirty water.

“Clean water is an urgent need,” said Maurizio Giuliano, a United Nations spokesman. The United Nations has appealed for international donations of $460 million, but only one-third of that of that has been provided, he said in a telephone interview. Clean water has been distributed to just one million people, he added. “There was a first wave of deaths caused by the floods themselves,” Mr. Giuliano said. “But if we don’t act soon enough there will be a second wave of deaths caused by a combination of lack of clean water, food shortages and water-borne and vector-borne diseases. “The picture,” he said, “is a gruesome one.”

Estimates of grievous long-term economic and political damage from the inundation are constantly revised in more dire directions as the rains continue. Roads, bridges and communications networks across the country have been severely damaged, Pakistani officials said.

The devastation has raised fears of further instability in Pakistan, a central pillar of American regional strategy to combat the Taliban and Al Qaeda but also a place long troubled by a weak government and economic woes. Hard-line Islamic groups have stepped in to provide aid where the government has failed to reach; the United States is also sending aid with an eye to improving its reputation among ordinary Pakistanis.

Full article with video: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/world/asia/17pstan.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&src=igw

[OhioChick]

9. Send relief goods to flood affectees - free of cost

http://www.piac.com.pk/PIA_PolicynTerms/PIA_Flood_Relief.asp

[sabrina 1]

11. Thank you for that link, OhioChick

It will get worse and I see now there are calls for the International Community to step up efforts to help avert an even worse disaster. If nothing else, the world should be concerned about how it will affect the rest of the region and by extension their own interests.

[closeupready]

12. Thank you!

:hi: :hug:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

13. huffington post has a good article on where one can donate

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/02/pakistan-flood-victims-ne_n_667303.html

[sabrina 1]

15. Good for Huffpo for doing that ......

Thank you for posting it ...

[La Lioness Priyanka]

16. i have been posting this on facebook encouraging my friends to donate

people should try to leverage their networks + raise consciousness around this disaster

[sabrina 1]

20. That's a good idea.

I will pass the list around also ....

[OhioChick]

17. Thanks for posting.

:thumbsup:

[cosmicone]

19. The Red Cross, Medecins sans Frontiers and Ofam have the

best infrastructure. I have been asking for cash donations to them and material donations (blankets, tents, canned food etc.) to the PIA cargo terminal at JFK.

[Turborama]

21. Thank-you for that. Sadly, there are some really disgusting replies on there, though

It blows my mind that people can be so heartless during such a devastating humanitarian crisis.

Posting it to my Facebook, which would engender more empathic responses.