Relief workers vaccinate survivors in India to prevent epidemic
Paramedics today began vaccinating more than 65,000 refugees in the south of India as authorities rushed aid to survivors of the tsunami that killed at least 4,400 people in India and left 8,000 missing, many of them feared dead, officials said.
Fifty-six teams of paramedics fanned out in the worst-hit Nagappattinam and Cuddalore districts of Tamil Nadu state in a bid to prevent epidemic outbreaks, said Gagandeep Singh Bedi, a top government administrator. At least 3,618 people in Tamil Nadu were killed by the waves over the weekend.
“The survivors are being vaccinated mainly against cholera, typhoid, hepatitis A and dysentery,” Bedi said.
Meanwhile, a statement by the Home Ministry in New Delhi said the confirmed death toll in India from Sunday’s earthquake-powered tidal waves stood at 4,491, including 749 in other southern states and 124 in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
In addition to the confirmed dead, 8,000 people were missing and feared dead on the remote Andaman and Nicobar islands, located about 915 miles east of the mainland. Only about 30 of the more than 500 islands are inhabited.
Three more aftershocks hit the islands early today, measuring 5.4 to 6.1 on the Richter scale, according to the Meteorological Department in New Delhi. There were no immediate reports of additional damage.
Nearly 150 soldiers joined the rescue work as authorities tried to reach the last of the islands, which have been cut off since Sunday, Rao said.
“There are nearly 2,000 people stranded on Teresa island,” he said.
The supply of food improved with yesterday’s air drop of three planeloads of food to various islands, Rao said. “Many people have survived by eating coconuts.”
He also said the calamity posed a serious threat to indigenous tribes who made up 90% of the islands’ 350,000 residents.
The Pioneer newspaper quoted India’s Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee as saying that indigenous tribes on some of the islands were safe.
The Onge tribe escaped the tsunami disaster because they were located on higher ground, while islands inhabited by Sentinelese and Jarawa tribes remained unaffected by the tidal waves, Mukherjee said after visiting some remote areas.
Authorities in Tamil Nadu state have received 10,000 blankets and 10,000 packets containing cooking utensils from the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and planned to distribute them today, Bedi said.
They also rushed drinking water and medicines to thousands of survivors living in makeshift relief camps – wedding halls, schools, colleges and government buildings – along India’s southern coast.
“We have accelerated disposing of bodies to minimise the risk of an epidemic. Also, we have started spraying bleaching powder on the beaches from where the bodies have been recovered,” said Veera Shanmuga Moni, an administrator of Nagappattinam district.
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