Michel Becks, an MSF emergency water and sanitation specialist, explains why clean drinking water and sanitation are absolutely essential in the Myanmar cyclone relief effort - 14th May 2008
"It is clear that access to clean drinking water is a very basic need. People can go for longer without food, but clean water is one of the primary needs.
The other problem is sanitation. In Myanmar, there is water everywhere but no safe sanitation. If human waste gets into the water supply, disease can spread very quickly. Two of the most pressing needs in an emergency situation are providing people with safe drinking water and working out how to dispose of human waste.
If people cannot get safe water and there is no sanitation, the clearest health problem is diarrhoeal disease. Cholera has an incubation period so is less immediately obvious. But diarrhoea is very obvious from the start and it is a particular risk for children under five years old. People’s houses have been destroyed so they are living in very crowded situations. If people are living in crowded conditions and do not have access to safe drinking water and toilet facilities then disease can spread very fast.
Our first step is to assemble emergency stocks of basic water and sanitation materials. When there is extensive flooding with dead bodies and dead animals in the water we need to identify a potential water supply and clean and disinfect it. We usually try to use wells, but sometimes it will be a flowing water supply such as a river. Then the challenge is to get the water from the well to a distribution point. In these kinds of situations we use water points that are very quick to erect, such as water bladders. We pump the water into the bladders that have already been disinfected. Once this has been done, the water is ready for distribution through taps. The water needs to be distributed fast. We aim to be able to provide at least five litres of clean water per person per day in the initial stage of an emergency.
On a smaller scale, as soon as we get to an emergency we start distributing water purification tablets to people and doing bucket chlorination. Bucket chlorination simply involve standing next to the sources where people fetch their water and adding some chlorine to people’s buckets of water so that it is safe for drinking.
Many people have lost their homes and all their belongings, so we distribute buckets and soap to make sure that they have the means to collect water and to wash.
Our biggest problem at the moment is in terms of staffing. At the moment we have just one dedicated water and sanitation specialist. Our team of water and sanitation staff are able to do the smaller scale water treatments such as bucket chlorination and distributing buckets and soap, but they are not experienced in dealing with emergency situations on this scale. The cyclone is not an everyday situation. If we are to prevent the spread of disease it is very important to have the right number of people with the right skills on the ground. You need a whole different mind-set to deal with an emergency situation. We have a pool of people who are very skilled at setting up this kind of equipment in a very short space of time, and then making sure that it runs correctly. Keeping the equipment running is actually more of a challenge than setting it up in the first place.
In emergency situations like this, the bulk of our medics’ consultations tend to be related to lack of access to clean water and proper sanitation. If a proper water and sanitation system is not set up, we may well see an explosion of diarrhoeal diseases."
Please consider supporting our work in Myanmar (Burma) by donating to MSF's Myanmar (Burma) Cyclone Appeal. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.
