The World Health Organisation said Tuesday it had sent body bags to cyclone-hit Myanmar, as experts warned that rotting corpses remain uncollected and pose a major health risk. The United Nations' health arm said the body bags are among shipments of 30,000 surgical masks and 30,000 gloves that have been sent to the Irrawaddy delta region which was obliterated in the May 2 catastrophe.
A spokeswoman was not able to say immediately how many body bags have been sent. The UN has said it believes about 100,000 people were killed and reports from the disaster zone say most victims remain where they fell.
"Diarrhoea and dysentery cases have been reported, but no cholera cases were confirmed," the WHO said in a statement, amid fears that the decomposing bodies are contaminating rivers and canals where drinking water is being drawn. "Immediate efforts are focused on ensuring care and treatment to the injured population and preventing communicable diseases such as diarrhoea, other waterborne diseases, acute respiratory infections, measles and dengue."
The sheer scale of the disaster, and the junta's floundering response, has meant there are simply no resources to bury or cremate the bodies of the victims, let alone the corpses of livestock that also foul waterways.
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