May 9, 2008

experts comment on the disaster in Burma

The devastating cyclone in Burma left many thousands of people facing hardship and an elevated risk of infectious disease, especially water-borne diseases. Experts commented on the disaster, and the types of diseases that could be present and the level of risk.

Dr Robert Hodgson, Chair of RedR – a natural disasters charity, said:

“Experience from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka is that low lying deltas like Myanmar have high groundwater tables and hence poor drainage. The many dead bodies (both human and, probably more, farm livestock) will be difficult to bury and, when decomposing, may pollute shallow wells. Sanitation will be very difficult where temporary camps have to be established as wastes will not soak away. Water supplies have probably been polluted by being flooded by the surge wave so new deep boreholes could be needed. The consequence of all this is very severe health problems unless action can be taken urgently to dispose of bodies and to rehouse survivors away from the sources of pollution.”

Mike Sutton, President of The Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors, said:

“The devastation from Cyclone Nargis in Burma again reminds us how vulnerable we are to natural disaster. Emergency plans for disasters, such as those put in place by Bangladesh at least provides the temporary respite for the human tragedy after such natural disasters. To meet whatever challenges arise from the changing weather in the future, it is essential that Burma recognises the need to welcome the UN support and allow the skills of international engineers and surveyors to help re-build its infrastructure.”

Professor Gordon Dougan, of the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said:

“In any situation where there is a breakdown in infrastructure due to natural disasters infectious diseases emerge as a major threat to life. In Burma where that natural infrastructure is inherently poor the situation is compounded particularly as rising water levels are involved that can disseminate disease agents.

An immediate threat will be germs that cause diarrhea or spread through water. These will include cholera, typhoid and dysentery. All of these diseases are known to be present in Myanmar and typhoid is particularly common. A further complication is many of the germs are resistant to antibiotics. Water can also contribute to the spread of insect transmitted diseases such as malaria. Stagnant pools can lead to increasing numbers of mosquitoes that transmit malaria and other diseases such as dengue fever. In the longer term diseases such as leptospirosis (or Weil’s Disease) spread by rats could become a problem.”

Professor Bill McGuire is Director of the Benfield UCL Hazard Research Centre at University College London, said:

“This was a disaster waiting to happen, with millions of people occupying poorly-built homes on a river delta barely above sea level and in the cyclone belt. Clearly the government will have known about the approaching storm but seem to have chosen to do nothing about it. Even if they had, however, the logistics of evacuating such an enormous number of people in time would have been a real struggle. Like the impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans, this latest catastrophe highlights the enormous danger of occupying low-lying land in areas prone to tropical cyclones, a danger that will become even worse as climate change drives more powerful storms and sea levels rise relentlessly.”