Armed forces battle epidemic now

Jagatsinghpur district, which had reported no casualty till Wednesday, topped the list with 373 deaths followed by Puri 225, Kendrapada 121 and Cuttack 115. Other affected districts accounted for remaining deaths.

Nearly 2.5 lakh houses were damaged or destroyed in Jagatsinghpur alone, Orissa Special Relief Commissioner SRC D N Padhi told reporters here.

However, public health experts, who met here at a review meeting with Union Health Minister N T Shanmugam, caution that these figures are early estimates.In natural disasters like cyclones and earthquakes, the death roll rises in the aftermath of the calamity when the homeless begin to fall prey to water borne diseases.

Apprehending the outbreak of water-borne diseases like cholera, hepatitis and typhoid, the interaction between the international health organisations and senior Health Ministry officials was to review the strategy adopted by doctors and voluntary agencies in Orissa.

Urging the international aid agencies and non-governmental organisations NGOs to work in a coordinated manner, Shanmugam suggested that manpower and relief material be deployed in a judicious manner so that their was no duplication of efforts or wastage of precious relief material.

Padhi claimed that despite valiant efforts by air force personnel from morning till late evening and distribution of relief material on land route, about 50 per cent of the affected people could not be reached.

Over 100 tonnes of bleaching powder were being transported by naval ships to purifywater contaminated by floating human bodies and carcasses.

Health authorities rushed one million doses of measles vaccines and disposable syringes while another two lakh units of vaccines were ready for despatch.

quot;Prevention of outbreak of epidemic is the primary concern of the naval medical camps at Paradip,quot; a spokesman for the Navy said in Delhi.

Padhi further said with the clearing of road blockades to various districts, including the worst affected districts of Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara, reports of human casualty had started pouring in adding that 201 persons were reported missing in various districts and put the number of cattle deaths at about 25,000.

He said IAF MI-8 choppers made 27 sorties on Wednesday dropping 5465 food packets weighing over 66 tonnes. Thirty truck-loads of food material, polythene rolls and medicines were also dispatched to various districts by road on Wednesday.

The district collectors had been instructed to run free kitchens for the affected in the needy areas whilekerosene and polythene rolls were being rushed to the cyclone hit districts.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is scheduled to make an aerial survey of the devastated area on Friday.

The SRC said an eight member inter-ministerial central team, which arrived here on Wednesday to assess the damages, made two aerial surveys of the affected districts of Bhadrak, Jajpur, Cuttack, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Khurda and Puri.

The team which also reviewed the situation with senior officers of the State Government, were convinced about the devastation.