Disease kills children in India flood camps

Children who fled their homes to escape floods in northern India are dying from disease because of dirty contaminated water and a lack of decent toilets and washing facilities in the camps where they are living.

Tuesday 9 September 2008

Save the Children has heard reports that 32 children have died from diarrhoea, vomiting and fever in Araria and Sapaul camps in Bihar province. The international children’s charity fears that without more help this number will rise.

Thomas Chandy, head of Save the Children in India said: “Conditions in these flood  camps are terrible. People use the same stagnant water for bathing as well as washing their clothes and utensils. With little else to occupy them, children are playing around in this water and inadvertently drinking it and getting sick. ”

It is now three weeks since floodwaters first breached the banks of the Kosi river and many areas are still submerged. Families have officially been warned that they shouldn’t return home while the threat of flooding continues, even in areas where water levels are receding. The Indian meteorological office predicts further rain in the next few days.   

Mr Chandy said: “This emergency is far from over. Some children will be living in relief camps for another six months and without big improvements more of them will die of disease. Young children are particularly susceptible to water-borne diseases, like diarrhoea, which are a huge risk in a situation like this.”

The flooding in northern India is currently affecting five million people, including three million children. Save the Children is calling on world governments to donate money to this emergency to help aid agencies respond to the needs of these children.

Save the Children's response

Save the Children has started a relief operation in Araria, one of the worst affected districts bordering Nepal, and is currently reaching 1,500 families, including around 6,000 children with food distribution and clean drinking water. The charity has opened a community kitchen in the relief camps so that families that lost all their belongings including cooking utensils can cook for  themselves.

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