http://www.irinnews.org/irin-fp.aspxUpdated everydayen-gbSun, 16 Aug 2009 13:34:03 GMTSANAA Sunday, August 16, 2009 (IRIN) - Water and sanitation companies in Yemen are adopting unprecedented water rationing in major cities including the capital Sanaa, Taiz, Mukalla, al-Beidha, al-Dhalea and Lahj, local council officials said.SANAA Sunday, August 16, 2009 (IRIN) - Water and sanitation companies in Yemen are adopting unprecedented water rationing in major cities including the capital Sanaa, Taiz, Mukalla, al-Beidha, al-Dhalea and Lahj, local council officials said.

Urgent action is needed to halt depletion of the country’s water resources, Abdulqader Hanash, deputy minister for water affairs, told IRIN. Some 90 percent of available water is used for agriculture, leaving just 10 percent for industrial and household use, he said. Specialists have said before that 40 percent of Yemen’s agricultural water consumption can be attributed to the cultivation of Qat – a mild narcotic plant.

Hanash explained that the ministry was taking steps to stop the proliferation of wells which exacerbated groundwater depletion; it was also helping citizens to switch to less water-dependent produce and farming techniques.

“We expect the international community and donors to provide further funding to allow the ministry to implement its water strategies,” he added.

A report by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN-ESCWA) says Yemen is under “serious water stress”.

The World Bank considers a country to be water scarce if there are less than 1,000 m³ of renewable internal freshwater resources available per capita. The global average is about 6,750 m³ of water per capita. All Arab countries bar Lebanon and Comoros are well below the water scarcity level. Yemen has about 200 m³ per capita - just 3 percent of the global average.

UNDP study

A UN Development Programme (UNDP) study of Arab countries in 2007 said Yemen had the second highest percentage of population without access to safe water (after Comoros) - 33 percent - just over double the Arab average.

Environmental specialist Mohammed al-Ariqi said Yemen’s water deficit was growing at 5 percent per year - the same rate as annual population growth. A new water source has been discovered recently in Hadhramaut but its impact on the country’s overall water needs has not yet been assessed.

In al-Ariqi’s book Water: Reality & Vision, al-Ariqi said Yemen’s water deficit in 2000 was 900 million m³; 700 million m³ in 1995; and 400 million m³ in 1990. His latest figures, for 2005, put the country’s water deficit at 1.28 billion m³.

Worst province, city

Al-Beidha, with a population of 300,000, is the country’s most water-scare province, according to Mohammed al-Aidarous, a local councillor there. Water in al-Beidha costs more because it takes three to four hours to transport it by truck from the nearest water source. “The majority of the province’s artesian wells have dried up because of frequent droughts coupled with excessive consumption by farmers growing qat,” he said.

Abdulwahab Almujahed, head of water and environment at the Social Fund for Development, said that Taiz city suffers the worst water shortages in the country with citizens receiving municipal water once every 45 days on average. Compounding the shortages problem was the fact that having long intervals without water running through the pipes causes contamination, he said.

“The Taiz-based Local Water and Sanitation Corporation continues to connect more households to an empty supply network. However, it should first look for water sources before expanding the network,” Almujahed told IRIN. “The corporation should provide tanks to citizens to harvest rainwater, which they can use during the drought season.”

Almujahed added that Dhamar, 100km south of Sanaa and with a population of nearly 120,000, has the cleanest water supply in Yemen because it is available almost every day.

Price hikes

To get a large truck-load of water (3,600 litres) delivered in Sanaa has gone up in the past month from US$7.5 to US$12.5, according to Abdulkarim Al-Ghashm, an employee at the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

“Our household has received no water for 21 days, so I turned to buying water from trucks… In the past month, I bought water four times, costing me YR10,000 [$50] - nearly one-third of my monthly salary.”

Mahdi al-Sukhaini, owner of an artesian well near al-Saleh mosque in Sanaa, attributed the problem to severe drought: “Many artesian wells have dried up,” he told IRIN.

He also complained of a lack of fairness in the water rationing system, with some parts of Sanaa not getting water for up to 15-20 days at a time.

Khalid al-Kharbi, a water resources manager in the Sanaa-based Local Water and Sanitation Corporation, admitted there was a problem, saying “houses near the main tanks receive water at more frequent intervals than houses further away.”

He said the company was looking at ways of alleviating the situation: the digging of 1,000-metre deep wells around the city, desalination projects in the Red Sea, and tapping into new water sources in the Empty Quarter. The main problem in all cases was lack of funding, he said.

“Thirty years ago water was found in the Sanaa basin at a depth of 20-30 metres, but now we have to go down 300-400 metres,” al-Kharbi said, warning that Sanaa could run out of water in the next 15-20 years.

According to al-Kharbi, only 52 percent of Sanaa’s two million people are connected to the municipal water supply network.

ay/ed/cbhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85734BEIRUT Thursday, August 13, 2009 (IRIN) - Lebanon faces great changes if average temperatures rise 2-4 degrees Celsius over the next 100 years, as most climate change models forecast.BEIRUT Thursday, August 13, 2009 (IRIN) - Lebanon faces great changes if average temperatures rise 2-4 degrees Celsius over the next 100 years, as most climate change models forecast.

According to Wael Hmaidan, executive director of IndyACT, The League of Independent Activists, climate change in the Middle East will affect Lebanon first. “The distribution of rain has changed; the snow density is decreasing and forest fires [http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=80561] are spreading,” he said.

Lebanon’s average annual rainfall exceeds 800 million cubic metres (mcm), helping to sustain more than 2,000 springs during the seven-month dry season, the envy of more arid regional countries such as Iraq and Jordan.

But this is changing. “Twenty years ago we used to reckon on 80-90 rainy days a year in Lebanon. Today we forecast 70 rainy days,” said Bassem Jaber, an expert on water from the Implementation of Technical Tools for Water Management (MOTGE) at the Lebanese Ministry of Energy and Water.

It is not the amount of rain that is changing, said Jaber, but the period in which it falls: “With the same amount of rain, but in a shorter period of time, it cannot seep into the soil. Instead it runs along the ground and washes into the ocean where it is lost. On its way it causes soil erosion, landslides and flash floods. This eventually leads to desertification.”

This change in Lebanon’s weather could, according to IndyACT’s Hmaidan, spell disaster for the country: “Lebanon’s only natural resources are its fair weather, forests and water. The country’s economy is based on tourism, which depends on these resources. If they go, so will Lebanon’s economy.”

Snowfall is also predicted to decrease with climate change. Lebanon receives 65 percent of its water from rainfall and 35 percent from snow. Winter rainfall is supplemented by water from melting snow from April to July, ensuring rivers keep flowing throughout summer.

Bleak outlook

Surveys by Wajdi Najem, director of the Regional Water and Environment (ESIB) in Lebanon, predict that water from snow will decrease from 1,200 mcm under current conditions to 700 mcm with a two degree rise in temperature, and reduce further to 350 mcm with a rise of four degrees.

The snowline that is today at 1500m will creep up to 1,700m with a two degree increase, and 1,900m with a four degree increase, ESIB predicts, reducing the country’s lucrative ski season from three months to just one week by the end of the century.

Snow is also vital to the survival of Lebanon’s ancient cedar trees, the national symbol, which are now listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's "Red List" as a "heavily threatened" species. h[http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hnyPpeyf8DYj-MdeNUQlCt7xyoVw]

Urban drought

With less melt water from snow, the dry season is set to begin a month earlier. While disrupting some farming, particularly in the south [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=62397] and east [http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=82682] where agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, environmentalists warn it will be urban areas which face the most serious water shortages over the next five years. [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=64491]

“It is not the agricultural areas that will feel the greatest impact - they’ll start their growing season earlier - but we worry about the urban centres,” said Jaber. “The problem is that they will run out of fresh water before the dry season is over.”

Of Lebanon’s roughly four million people, including around 400,000 Palestinian refugees, over 80 percent live in urban areas, with 1.5 million living in Beirut.

Two man-made factors add to Lebanon’s water shortage problems. Half of rainfall is currently lost through run-off, evaporation or ground seepage every year, while much of the plumbing and irrigation systems are still in disarray from the civil war and the 2006 July War. [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70642]

Currently, low water pressure in the late summer and autumn forces the government to ration supplies, leaving nearly half of households in some regions below the sufficiency threshold.

The average household receives less than 50 litres per day - 20 litres less than sufficiency as defined by the World Health Organization. This gap is set to widen with an earlier and longer dry season.

Plans for dams

The government has plans to build up to 28 surface and subsurface dams over the next 10 years, aiming to capture up to 900 mcm of fresh water.

At an estimated cost of US$2.5bn to $3bn, the plan has been criticized by some activists as too costly and damaging to wildlife. IndyAct is working on an alternative plan focused on better use of current resources.

But Fadi Comair, director-general of Hydraulic and Electric Resources at the Ministry of Energy and Water, insists dams may be the only answer to Lebanon’s climate change problem.

“With the situation as it is, it is not a question of money - we have no choice,” he said.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85698BAIDOA Wednesday, August 12, 2009 (IRIN) - Isack Abdinor Satar, 80, remembers a green and lush Baidoa, in south-western Somalia, with waterfalls in areas that are now the town's suburbs. BAIDOA Wednesday, August 12, 2009 (IRIN) - Isack Abdinor Satar, 80, remembers a green and lush Baidoa, in south-western Somalia, with waterfalls in areas that are now the town's suburbs.

Over the years, population pressure, drought and changing weather patterns have caused most of these waterfalls and springs to dry up, totally changing the town's vegetation cover and ushering in perennial water shortages.

"In my youth, water was really available any time, anywhere in town," Satar said. "Water flowed in different directions from various sources but all these have now dried up. I think drought has seriously affected all water sources in Bay region."

Baidoa is facing a severe water shortage after most of its water points and wells dried up. These include the Garbadda water source, in the centre of town.

"Each day, hundreds of families brought their animals [to Garbadda] for watering," Hussein Sheikh Aden, a local resident, said. "Since last year, I have seen a very different situation. Due to lack of sufficient rainfall and increasingly high temperatures, the water point has dried up."

Farmers and pastoralists had long relied on Garbadda for their water supply, but now they have to search long and hard for small amounts of water. "We tried to dig a well; we dug really deep but we failed to find water," Aden said.

Halima Ibrahim Abdi, another resident, told IRIN: "I was born in Baidoa; I am now 60 years old. Baidoa used to be blessed with many water sources; we had water running under most bridges but, since last year, all this has changed."

A local journalist, who requested anonymity, told IRIN on 10 August that a 200-litre barrel of water cost 100,000 Somali shillings (US$3.50), a steep amount for many residents.

Grain production has also declined significantly, raising the price of cereals. Moreover, job opportunities had declined, the journalist added, as fewer traders and farmers were taking on casual labourers.

Desperate IDPs

In Geneva, a spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the humanitarian crisis in Somalia had reached a new low.

"There are 3.2 million people in need of urgent assistance," Elizabeth Byrs told UN radio. "Since May 2009, 200,000 people have fled insecurity in Mogadishu and there are a total of 3.9 million displaced - meaning one out of seven people is displaced in Somalia."

In the port city of Kismayo, IDPs said lack of food, health facilities and sanitation were the most pressing issues for about 30,000 people in various camps around the city.

Mohamed Muse Ali, chairman of the IDPs in Kismayo, said no aid agency was operating in any of the camps.

IDP camps between Mogadishu and Afgoye have recorded an increase in the number of new arrivals fleeing violence between government troops and Islamist insurgents in the city, according to camp leaders.

In central Somalia and the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, drought had displaced many pastoralist families who had also lost livestock. Many such families were facing hunger and disease outbreaks because of unsafe water.

For Somalis who have fled to neighbouring Kenya, congestion is the main problem in the three refugee camps in Dadaab [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=85605].

Halima Aadan, a refugee in one of the camps, said congestion had contributed to a water shortage and high food prices, as well as difficulties accessing services such as health and sanitation.

"Refugees need more help because more are arriving daily; the new arrivals do not have shelter and have to live with relatives and other families; they should be allocated land on which to live," Aadan said.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85681KITGUM Monday, August 10, 2009 (IRIN) - A rare and unexplained brain disease has affected hundreds of Ugandan children, health workers say. KITGUM Monday, August 10, 2009 (IRIN) - A rare and unexplained brain disease has affected hundreds of Ugandan children, health workers say.

The "nodding disease" causes seizures, and affected children become physically and mentally stunted, which can lead to blindness and even death.

"Nodding disease" is not unknown to medical science, but the best-known concentration of cases had previously been reported from southern Sudan. A medical NGO in the Mundri area of western Equatoria had reported an estimated 300 cases around 2003.

Northern Uganda's Kitgum disctrict, an area recovering from two decades of civil war, appears a new epicentre of the disease.

Local leaders Obonyo Yokoyedo told IRIN that 200 children in his village of Okidi alone had the illness. "We have lost three girls... one drowned in a well during a seizure; the other two went several weeks without eating," he said.

Janet Oola, Kitgum health officer, said hundreds of children had presented symptoms of the "nodding disease" in the district in 2008. "It is an early stage of epilepsy," she added.

A likely cause of the disease is a neurological effect of the parasitic worm that causes Onchocerciasis (river blindness). Recently published medical research supports a link and doctors who have studied nodding in the field say the two are connected.

Prof James Tumwine of Makerere University in Kampala, who participated in a WHO-sponsored investigation into the outbreak in Sudan, described the disease as a form of epilepsy linked to onchocerciasis. However he told IRIN he found it "incredible" that such a large number of cases were being reported in Uganda. "The infected children need immediate treatment for seizure and Onchocerciasis."

Ugandan health ministry officials confirmed the disease had been reported in northern Uganda, but its cause was yet to be established. "It has spread to many villages in Kitgum, and we are working with WHO [World Health Organization] to establish the cause," Paul Kagwa, ministry spokesman told IRIN. "At the moment, it is still a mysterious disease."

River blindness is transmitted by blackflies infected by the filarial worm Onchocerca volvulus. It is endemic in 30 African countries. A major public health campaign focuses on annual treatment with the drug Ivermectin, supplied free by manufacturer Merck & Co Inc. The programme in Africa has over 50 million people receiving treatment.

A medical officer in Uganda's northern Gulu district, who preferred anonymity, told IRIN that cases of nodding disease had been reported in Awere village in 2008. A health ministry team visited Gulu, Kitgum and Pader and found that the disease was more common among people living near streams.

Five streams - Pager, Lakankodi, Adinga, Lanyalyang, and Anyuka - cut across the affected villages.

Unclear link

Proving the link has not been easy, and research into other possible causes such as toxins have not produced answers. An epidemiological study in 2004 was inconclusive.

A study in December 2008 suggests that the "seizure disorder" had been reported in Tanzania as long ago as the 1960s and should be treated as a "syndrome" whose possible link to Onchocerciasis was "intriguing".

In June 2009, a review of studies in eight African countries, including Uganda, looked at the statistical links between river blindness and epilepsy and found that for every 10 percent increase in the prevalence of Onchocerciasis, epilepsy rates go up 0.4 percent.

The report's authors say they found "a close epidemiological association between the two diseases" in the data of over 70,000 patients. The study, in the PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases journal goes on to suggest a new terminology: Should a causative relationship be demonstrated, onchocerciasis [...] could thus also be called "river epilepsy".

Epilepsy affects some 50 million people worldwide, according to the WHO.  "Seizures can vary from the briefest lapses of attention or muscle jerks, to severe and prolonged convulsions", according to a WHO fact sheet:

Grace Lanyero, a psychiatrist at Kitgum government hospital, said food seemed to trigger off the attacks among the children she has seen. "This is a seizure which begins when the victim begins to eat," she told IRIN. "The child starts nodding with uncoordinated hand movements that don't reach the mouth."

The affected children, she added, were being treated with anti-convulsive drugs and medicines to relax the muscles and control nodding.

Christine Auma, 62, cannot understand what ails her two grandchildren, who have been bedridden for three weeks. The children nod endlessly whenever food is presented to them, and cannot eat properly. "I tried all means of treatment in Kitgum government hospital, but nothing [worked]," she said. "I even tried a traditional healer who slaughtered a black goat but nothing has worked."

Evelyn Aweko from Pajule village in Pader District told IRIN that her 14-year-old son developed the complication in mid-2005. All attempts to treat him have failed. "He started presenting unusual behaviour; whenever food is brought for him, he nods and fails to put food into his mouth," she said.

Sometimes, he would appear to have lost his memory, start nodding and eventually fall to the ground. The boy's father, developed similar symptoms and eventually lost his sight, Aweko said.

The WHO website cites nodding disease as an example of a disease that is not fully understood.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85646CONAKRY Monday, August 10, 2009 (IRIN) - Mariama has a stunned expression as she tells how a wall fell on her when she entered a house looking for a child after floodwaters burst in. She has bruises on her arms and legs and a gash on her back.CONAKRY Monday, August 10, 2009 (IRIN) - Mariama has a stunned expression as she tells how a wall fell on her when she entered a house looking for a child after floodwaters burst in. She has bruises on her arms and legs and a gash on her back.

Residents of the Dabondy neighbourhood, just off the road to the airport in Guinea’s capital Conakry, are appealing for help from authorities and aid organizations after torrential rains the week of 3 August flooded homes, washed away belongings and destroyed some crops locals grow nearby.

“We are calling for the authorities [and anyone else of goodwill] to help us because the work needed here to avoid this flooding is colossal,” resident Sekou Diallo told IRIN.

“SOS.”

Dabondy residents said the area lacks the infrastructure to evacuate water. Everyone IRIN spoke to pointed to a low bridge nearby, where rubbish packed underneath hinders the passage of water. Fuel residue mixed in with debris in the area has exacerbated the blockage and hurt crops, residents said.

The mayor of Matoto – Dabondy’s district – and officials of the Health Ministry visited the area after the rains, residents told IRIN. Locals were scheduled to meet with the governor of Conakry for a second time on 10 August to appeal for help, resident Léno Saa Christophe said.

Dabondy residents are used to flooding; throughout the neighbourhood footbridges of logs or pipes are laid out where standing water gets deep. Some people have built their homes with entrances two or three feet high, with wooden platforms or steps for access. The area is low-lying and water can be seen rising from the ground.

Conakry receives abundant rains each year and some streets even in the centre of downtown turn into what look like rushing streams for hours. But 15- and 20-year residents of Dabondy told IRIN this year’s rains are the heaviest they have ever seen – and the season is not over.

Higher-than-average rainfall is expected this season in Guinea and other countries in the southern Gulf of Guinea zone, according to the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

“Each year we are victims of flooding here, but this year is exceptional,” resident Léno told IRIN. “The water level has never been this high.”

Many homes were still flooded two days after the rains. Residents continue to put up sandbags and remove water from homes with buckets.

One resident who gave her name as Madame Bah said the floodwaters submerged a community well and swept away the cover. The well was used for cooking and bathing water; for drinking water residents fill jerry cans at a communal tap about 5km away.

Mayor Mohamed Cherif Haïdara told IRIN many people have built houses in lowland areas unsuitable for construction. “They did not consult anyone before building. Beyond that, many of the homes are made of banco [mud from soil mixed with other organic materials such as straw].”

He said he could not comment further for now and that he expects a decision in the coming days on what steps will be taken in the area to avoid flooding in future.

Stuck

Dabondy residents said they would leave the flood-prone area but cannot afford it.

“It is purely because of a lack of means that we live here,” said one woman who preferred anonymity. “The rent here is lower. A one-bedroom house here costs 20.000 Guinean francs (US$4.15) a month; in other parts of Conakry it is five times that or even more.”

Madame Bah told IRIN: “This is our house. We cannot afford to pay rent elsewhere. A landlord would demand six months’ rent in advance. We do not have enough money to feed our children properly; how could we ever afford to move and rent a house?”

She said: “If we don’t find a solution we are going to die here.”

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85660NAIROBI Thursday, August 06, 2009 (IRIN) - The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is to support livelihood and environmental protection programmes for local Kenyan communities in Dadaab, says a senior UN official.NAIROBI Thursday, August 06, 2009 (IRIN) - The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is to support livelihood and environmental protection programmes for local Kenyan communities in Dadaab, says a senior UN official.

The Dagahaley, Hagadera and Ifo camps in Dadaab comprise the largest refugee site in the world. As of 5 July, the site hosted an estimated 284,306 refugees, mainly from Somalia. This number was triple the designated capacity.

"We have witnessed in the recent months arrivals [in] the region [of] 5,000 per month, creating a situation that is extremely dramatic," the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, said.

"In the meetings I had with the local communities, we presented our programme of investment and support to the local community," he said. "UNHCR by itself has mobilised US$6 million especially in areas related to environmental degradation and livelihoods of the Kenyan local communities in Fafi and Lagadera."

Relations between refugees and the surrounding host population often sour with increasing insecurity and environmental degradation being blamed on the refugee influx, aid workers say.

Dadaab, some 90km from the Kenya-Somalia border, has seen a large number of asylum-seekers fleeing years of conflict in Somalia.

Guterres said there was a need to adequately screen people coming into Dadaab to improve safety for the refugees and locals, and to address Kenya's security concerns.

"UNHCR is preparing a comprehensive strategy for decongestion, rehabilitation and security in Dadaab," he said, adding that immediate priorities were in health, water and sanitation.

A measles outbreak was reported in Hagadera camp in July. Earlier, a cholera outbreak had been reported.

In a briefing note, UNHCR said the inability to provide adequate shelter for refugees had exposed them to exploitation by their hosts. For example, cases of sexual- and gender-based violence reported this year had increased by 30 percent.

To decongest Dadaab, UNHCR plans to move some refugees to Kakuma in the northwest, along the border with Sudan, and hopes to secure additional land in Dadaab. Kakuma already hosts some 45,017 refugees and has inadequate shelter.

The first group of 12,900 refugees from Dadaab is expected to go to Kakuma - about 1,000km away - before the rainy season. "As soon as the minimum logistic and reception conditions are established, the movement to Kakuma can start," Guterres said.

The meteorological department in Kenya has predicted el-Niño rains that could hinder refugee movements.

The Dadaab programme, including funds for local communities and the upgrading of the present refugee sites as well as new site infrastructure, is estimated to require $92 million.

"The host community is struggling especially with the high food prices and drought," Kellie Leeson, the International Rescue Committee director for Kenya, told IRIN recently.

Leeson said the camps were not officially demarcated and some of the long-term refugees had purchased livestock, fuelling tensions over pasture and water.

"The challenge [in Dadaab] is so big that it needs a combination of solutions," Guterres said. "It has been possible until now to provide the minimum but a lot of upgrading of humanitarian systems needs to be done."

aw/eo/mwhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85605MANILA Monday, August 03, 2009 (IRIN) - At least eight people have drowned and more than 375,000 been affected by massive flooding after heavy rains continued on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, according to disaster relief officials on 3 August.MANILA Monday, August 03, 2009 (IRIN) - At least eight people have drowned and more than 375,000 been affected by massive flooding after heavy rains continued on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, according to disaster relief officials on 3 August.

Many are among the tens of thousands already displaced by heavy fighting between government forces and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Maguindanao Province now living in government evacuation centres.

Regional emergency relief groups have also been told to be on alert for possible outbreaks of waterborne diseases.
Some 30 towns and one city in five provinces have been submerged since last week, the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) [see: http://ndcc.gov.ph/home/] in Manila said.

Heavy flooding began on 25 July, affecting some 56 villages on Mindanao Island.

But as rains continued, major waterways also flooded their banks, and within days more and more areas, especially in low-lying catch basins in central Mindanao, were also inundated, the agency said.

Officials said hardest hit was the coastal province of Sarangani, where most of the deaths were recorded.

Provincial welfare officer Hermelo Latoja said flash floods swept away wooden homes along the banks in the town of Malapatan, while almost 80 percent of all 19 villages in the area of Kiamba were submerged.

"I want to ensure the safety of residents in affected villages and I want to make sure they will be given enough food and supplies in evacuation centres," said Sarangani governor Migs Dominguez, adding that health officials were also rushing medicine to evacuation centres "to make sure there will be no disease outbreaks".

Troops meanwhile joined police and provincial rescue units to help thousands marooned inside their homes by waist-deep water in many areas of Maguindanao, where 31 villages remain submerged.

Medical health stations have been put up in areas near Cotabato city.

Office of Civil Defence (OCD) chief Glenn Rabonza said aerial surveys were being conducted across the flooded areas in Maguindanao and Cotabato city. He told IRIN a task force may carry out "forced evacuations by troops if necessary". He said more than 1,200 families had been evacuated from their homes, while helicopters were continuing to search for those in need.

Damage has been extensive - in South Cotabato and Cotabato provinces alone, more than 2,700ha of rice, vegetables and fruit trees have been washed away, while over 100 houses have been destroyed. Schools, dikes and roads have also been eroded, officials said.

Major Randolph Cabangbang, a regional military spokesman in Mindanao, said troops had been ordered to be ready for quick mobilisation throughout the region.

"Rapid deployment forces are already out there helping out," Cabangbang told IRIN. He said many bridges and roads remained inaccessible due to the flood waters, forcing them to use rubber boats to access some villages.

"We are continuing to monitor the weather," he said, adding that rains had continued in some areas.

Mindanao has been the scene of heavy fighting between government forces and the 12,000-strong MILF over the past year following the collapse of a peace deal last August, resulting in thousands of people being displaced.

The MILF have been fighting for an independent Islamic state on the island for decades.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85550GAZA CITY Sunday, August 02, 2009 (IRIN) - Less than 50m from a black, barrel-sized pipe pouring raw sewage directly into the sea, children are playing in the waves. GAZA CITY Sunday, August 02, 2009 (IRIN) - Less than 50m from a black, barrel-sized pipe pouring raw sewage directly into the sea, children are playing in the waves.

The pipe runs from one of three main sewage pumping stations in Gaza, with multiple outlets into the sea. The water authority in the Gaza Strip has been unable to import the parts necessary for the maintenance and repairs at water and sewage pumping stations since Israel imposed its two-year long blockade of the territory, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Gaza.

“We know there is sewage in the water, but the borders are closed and we can’t travel,” said Mariam Al-Halu, who brought her two sons to swim. With scorching temperatures and intermittent electricity, many Gazans seek refuge from the heat in the polluted waters, residents say.

According to a July 2009 report (not available online) on the quality of Gaza’s seawater by the World Health Organization (WHO), seawater samples collected monthly from April to June by the public health laboratory in Gaza were polluted with faecal bacteria, specifically coliforms and streptococcus .

Seventy-one seawater samples collected from 25 points on Gaza beach showed that seven points were polluted, according to the WHO report.

WHO warns that a safe distance to swim from the sewage discharge is a least 2,000m. By swimming just 50m away from a sewage discharge point, the al-Halu brothers were exposing themselves to serious risks.

These range from minor intestinal and infectious diseases to more severe and potentially life-threatening diseases such as hepatitis and meningitis, although the risk of a cholera outbreak is minimal, WHO said.

WHO and the Gaza health authorities launched a public awareness campaign in May at the start of the summer season, warning swimmers and fishermen of the raw sewage discharges and the potential dangers [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=84719].

However, many beachgoers and fishermen have not taken heed of the potential hazards, despite the signs placed in seven areas along the Gaza Strip’s 42km-long coastline.

About 80,000 cubic metres of raw and partially treated sewage is being discharged directly into the sea each day. The rundown sewage network badly needs repairs but the materials are lacking, according to an April 2009 report by the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) cluster, a group of UN agencies and international organizations responding to Gaza’s water and sanitation crisis.
Clinics and hospitals in Gaza report cases of eye and skin infections and stomach viruses among beachgoers, yet health bodies in Gaza say there are no clear indicators to connect the health issues to faecal contamination.

“The sewage has increased the amount of algae in the seawater and on the beaches, particularly near the sewage outlets,” said engineer Bahha Alagha from the Environmental Quality Authority (EQA) in Gaza.

“The fish eat the algae and are then sold on the local market,” Alagha said.

According to a special report on the marine environment in the Gaza Strip by Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights [http://www.ochaopt.org/cluster/admin/output/files/ocha_opt_wash_cluster_specialreport_3_alDameer_June2009-20090715-160238.pdf], consuming seafood fished in areas with considerable quantities of raw sewage water poses a serious threat to human health, because marine environment contaminants can be transferred through the marine food chain.

A committee to protect the beaches, including the EQA, health and interior ministries, and the water authority in Gaza, has been established to address these issues.

es/at/mwhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85542HARARE Friday, July 31, 2009 (IRIN) - Zimbabweans have been given the good news and bad news about their water supplies. First, the government declared the end of the devastating cholera outbreak; then, residents in the capital, Harare, were told to expect widespread cut-offs of water supplies over unpaid bills.HARARE Friday, July 31, 2009 (IRIN) - Zimbabweans have been given the good news and bad news about their water supplies. First, the government declared the end of the devastating cholera outbreak; then, residents in the capital, Harare, were told to expect widespread cut-offs of water supplies over unpaid bills.

When the last case of the waterborne disease in the Harare township of Budiriro was recorded on 3 July 2009, the cholera epidemic that began in August 2008 had claimed the lives of more than 4,200 people out of about 100,000 known cases.

Health and child welfare minister Henry Madzorera told local media: "The nation experienced the worst cholera outbreak between August 2008 and June 2009, but the epidemic has been successfully contained and has ended."

Zimbabwe's dilapidated water reticulation system and decaying sanitation system were widely blamed for Africa's worst outbreak in 15 years. The collapse of infrastructure mirrored the country's rapid economic descent, when routine maintenance of the water and sanitation networks was neglected and the scarcity of foreign currency meant water treatment chemicals could not be imported.

The Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) was unable to provide clean water - or any water at all - so residents took to digging shallow wells, which were contaminated by the raw sewerage spilling into the city's streets. The responsibility for water provision has now reverted to local municipalities.

Analysts link the fading away of cholera to the onset of the dry season, which reduces favourable conditions for the waterborne disease to spread, and to widespread education programmes.

"All districts, provinces and cities will conduct post-mortems of the epidemic in their areas, evaluating their responsive strategies, and plan forward for future outbreaks, which have a strong likelihood of recurring in view of continued sewerage and water problems," Madzorera said.

Raw sewage still spills onto the streets of some suburbs, providing a dank reminder of the danger that cholera could return with the coming rainy season, but work on restoring the city's water and sanitation systems has begun.

No free water

Harare's municipality this week placed a slew of adverts in the local media, warning residents that the water supply would be disconnected if they did not settle US$23 million in outstanding accounts, and has since made good on their threats.

"Harare Water would like to inform its valued customers that with effect from Monday, 27 July 2009, there will be a massive disconnection of water in the low-, high-density, commercial and industrial areas to all those consumers with outstanding water bills," the adverts said.

The mayor, Muchadeyi Masunda, dismissed complaints by residents and insisted that all monies owed be paid. "I have not received water at my house for more than four years but I still pay my bills. No one is going to be relieved of their obligation to pay their dues to council," he told IRIN. "What we may consider is to reduce the amounts, but not total waiver."

Unemployment is estimated at 94 percent, and since the local currency, the Zimbabwean dollar, was withdrawn as an antidote to hyperinflation, the accounts are expected to be settled in US dollars.

"We have held several meetings with residents, who have said they are prepared to pay outstanding bills so that we can restore service delivery. I think we are winning the heart-and-minds war after explaining to residents that our coffers are dry," Masunda said.

"I have been assured by senior staff that as things stand, they are ready for any cholera outbreak, and that they learnt their lessons in the last outbreak," he said.

However, the government minister responsible for water, Sam Sipepa Nkomo, disputed the mayor's claim. "The residents cannot be expected to pay for water which they did not receive or use."

There was concern that cutting off water supplies could fuel another cholera epidemic. "Instead of disconnecting water supplies to residents and commercial interests with genuine outstanding bills, the Harare authorities should negotiate easy payment methods, otherwise we will have another cholera disaster," he said.

"Remember, cholera killed more than 4,000 people and infected close to 100,000 people. Water is life, because everything that we do revolves around water," Nkomo pointed out.

"If clean water is cut off, then it will force residents to look for alternative sources, which will obviously be dirty. Disconnecting water is like cutting off life."

go/he http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85529BUJUMBURA Thursday, July 30, 2009 (IRIN) - Health officials in Bujumbura have admitted all suspected cholera patients to hospital and provided clean water to residents lacking facilities in a bid to control an outbreak reported in almost all the capital’s suburbs.BUJUMBURA Thursday, July 30, 2009 (IRIN) - Health officials in Bujumbura have admitted all suspected cholera patients to hospital and provided clean water to residents lacking facilities in a bid to control an outbreak reported in almost all the capital’s suburbs.

"All the patients coming in with diarrhoea are admitted and put under surveillance," Jerome Ndaruhutse, national programme officer for disease prevention and control at the World Health Organization (WHO) office in Bujumbura, told IRIN.

"Those found with cholera are forwarded to the treatment centre. Those who are still able to drink for rehydration are put in one group while those with acute cholera are put under perfusion."

One death and 62 cases have been recorded since the outbreak two weeks ago.

Ndaruhutse said the cholera epidemic had been "confirmed in laboratories and 13 patients were still in hospital”.

Jean Bosco Nduwayo, deputy director at Prince Regent Charles Hospital, where all the cholera patients have been admitted, said the epidemic started in Bujumbura's northern suburbs but spread to almost all the city's neighbourhoods, including the well-to-do residential area of Rohero, which registered two cases.

The most affected are Kinama and Gihosha suburbs, where 13 and 12 cases, respectively, have been reported. However, Ndaruhutse said there had been no new cases from Kinama in the past week.

Nduwayo said patients were still being admitted to hospital daily.

"Even if the influx is not alarming, two or three patients are still admitted per day,” he said.

Spreading out

The outbreak has since spread out of the city, with the commune of Mutimbuzi, in the nearby Bujumbura Rural Province, reporting nine cases.

WHO, in its capacity as technical adviser to the Ministry of Public Health, has undertaken field missions to assess the situation and held meetings with different partners to step up control measures.

These include the preparation, by the Belgian charity Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), of isolation wards at the Prince Regent Charles Hospital. MSF has since set up tents to cater for cholera patients at the hospital.

Heath officials have also made water available for people with limited access to supplies. With the aid of the NGO Solidarités, a 10,000-litre water tank has been provided for residents of Buterere and Gihosha suburb to the north of the city.

Transport challenge

Ndaruhutse said the transportation of patients to hospital remained a serious challenge to efforts to contain the disease.

"A cholera patient has to look for his own means of transport to reach the hospital; if he admits he has cholera, no one will offer to transport him but if he hides his state, he puts the lives of others at risk since he can contaminate others along the way," Ndaruhutse said.

He said an ambulance should be put at patients' disposal as well as a free telephone line to report new cases.

Pascal Ndayongeje, provincial health director for Bujumbura, said he had consulted the Public Health Minister about organising transportation for patients to avoid spreading the disease.

The northern suburbs of Bujumbura are especially prone to cholera as residents face acute water shortages each year after the national water utility discontinued supplies to the area following the administration's failure to pay bills.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85505BAGHDAD Thursday, July 30, 2009 (IRIN) - Slum dwellers and local NGOs have welcomed the partnership between the government and the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) to improve service delivery, reduce poverty and create employment in slums.BAGHDAD Thursday, July 30, 2009 (IRIN) - Slum dwellers and local NGOs have welcomed the partnership between the government and the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) to improve service delivery, reduce poverty and create employment in slums.

"This is really good news; we hope it will put an end to our chronic suffering," said Dhia Hameed Mansour, 46, who works at a grocery in the slums of Baghdad's Sadr City. "Our potable water is often mixed with sewage, our houses are flooded when it rains and we have less than 10 hours of electricity a day.

"For years, we've not breathed fresh air, [but only] smelled sewage and [rubbish] has piled up in our neighbourhood. Even the parks have been turned into garbage dumps where sometimes we burn it when government garbage cleaners do not show up," he said.

Mansour is among some 2.5 million people living in this eastern suburb of Baghdad, about 21 sqkm accommodating the largest concentration of Shias in Iraq, mostly in cramped houses packed along narrow alleyways.

Mounds of festering rubbish grow higher. Small canals are clogged with sewage, producing an overwhelming stench. Power outages are common and much of the area lacks clean drinking water.

Ahmed Mahdi, head of the Karbala-based al-Ghad (Tomorrow) NGO, said: "I think the UN agencies' presence along with the Iraqi government is vital to prepare a guideline for government operations and help them put strategic plans [into place].

"The previous regime lacked a vision for the city's planning while billions of dollars have been wasted since 2003 without bringing anything and that is [largely] because of the absence of strategic plans and widespread corruption," Mahdi said.

On 27 July, UN-HABITAT launched its three-year US$70 million Country Programme for 2009-2011, which will focus on providing technical assistance and capacity-building for urban governance, housing and infrastructure and basic services to ministries and local authorities.

In its programme document, UN-HABITAT states that Iraq is facing a severe urban housing shortage of at least 1.5 million units, with the total housing stock of about 2.8 million units well below the minimum requirement.

"The quality of housing has decreased significantly over the past 15 years due to overcrowding and inadequate maintenance," the report states. "More than 60 percent of the population live in dwellings that require major rehabilitation."

It also listed common problems such as stagnant water, open sewage outlets, rubbish and dirt, as well as insecurity, insufficient light and ventilation.

Only half of Iraq's 25 million people have access to regular safe water supplies and 9 percent of the urban population outside Baghdad have access to sewage collection and treatment services, the report states.

"The cities in Iraq, therefore, embody the country's most pressing development challenges, including proliferation of slum-like settlements, unemployment and increased economic and social disparities," the Planning and Development Cooperation Minister said in the report.

As well as the Planning Ministry, the programme will be implemented with the Construction and Housing, Municipalities and Public Works, Education, Displacement and Migration ministries.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85497YANGON Wednesday, July 29, 2009 (IRIN) - In a significant improvement on the situation a year ago, survivors of Cyclone Nargis will have sufficient access to potable water during the next dry season, specialists say. During the critical dry season - running from November to April - residents depend on whatever water they have been able to store during the rainy season.YANGON Wednesday, July 29, 2009 (IRIN) - In a significant improvement on the situation a year ago, survivors of Cyclone Nargis will have sufficient access to potable water during the next dry season, specialists say.

During the critical dry season - running from November to April - residents depend on whatever water they have been able to store during the rainy season.

"We are not expecting a water shortage in the next dry season," Daniel Collison, director of emergencies for Save the Children in Myanmar, told IRIN in Yangon, the former Burmese capital.

Access to potable water was a key health concern in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, which killed some 140,000 people and affected two million more when it struck southern Myanmar in May 2008.

Traditional water sources, including ponds, tube and open wells, were either polluted or completely destroyed after a 3m high tidal surge inundated much of the low-lying area with sea-water and debris in the country’s worst natural disaster.

According to the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment (PONJA) report [http://www.asean.org/21765.pdf], almost 1,500 ponds - 13 percent of those Yangon Division and 43 percent in the badly affected Ayeyarwady Delta - were contaminated.

Concerns were heightened during the last dry season, when water shortages were reported.

For some affected communities, river water and water trucking became the main source of drinking water.

Few people in the delta have access to piped water, with most residents reliant on home rainwater harvesting systems, communal rainwater ponds, open wells, tube wells and rivers.

In July last year, the UN reported that 74 percent of people in the affected areas had inadequate access to clean water, with rainwater collection regarded as critical in reducing the risk of disease outbreaks.

Successful interventions

But thanks to successful interventions by international agencies, the authorities and local communities, the situation has improved.

“Cyclone survivors will have sufficient water because the contaminated water ponds have been rehabilitated, and in addition, some new water ponds have been constructed,” Waldemar Pickardt, chief of water and sanitation for the UN Children’s Fun (UNICEF), said.

“The possibility of water shortages in the coming dry season has been reduced to the barest minimum,” Morie Amadu, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) adviser for the Nargis response programme with Action against Hunger (ACF) in Myanmar, echoed.

To date, UNICEF has constructed 40 ponds in Kunchangone, Dedaye and Bogale townships, with some 50 more under construction in Labutta Township, one of the hardest-hit areas.

For its part, ACF has rehabilitated 19 ponds and constructed 12 in the Bogale area, while at the same time distributing some 6,000 ceramic jars. With a capacity of 250 litres each and four per household, each family is assured a water storage capacity of 1,000 litres.

“With frugal use, this storage capacity will last a minimum of three months into the dry season for an average household of five,” Amadu said.

Safety first

But while aid workers are more confident than before, there is still no room for complacency.

“Now our focus should be on water quality,” Pickardt said, noting that residents continue to have limited knowledge of various water purification systems, including chlorine use or water filters.

As a result, the risk factors for a host of waterborne diseases, such as diarrhoea or dysentery, still exist, health specialists say.

“Fortunately, there were no serious reports of waterborne diseases, thanks to intervention measures taken by aid agencies,” an official from Myanmar’s Department of Health, who requested anonymity, told IRIN, citing the distribution of chlorine and water filters in affected communities.

“Just providing water purification things such as chlorine or water filters is not enough,” the official noted, however. “They [cyclone survivors] should [also] be educated why safe water is important to them, which would surely take time and money,” he added.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85472MBABANE Wednesday, July 29, 2009 (IRIN) - Weary of waiting for government's long-promised rural development, women in some of Swaziland's most deprived areas set up a basketry cooperative and are using the proceeds to improve their lives.MBABANE Wednesday, July 29, 2009 (IRIN) - Weary of waiting for government's long-promised rural development, women in some of Swaziland's most deprived areas set up a basketry cooperative and are using the proceeds to improve their lives.

"Swaziland is one of the poorest places, even by African standards, but one solution is to do things ourselves to lift ourselves up," said Zihle Vilakati, a basket weaver and member of the Gone Rural BoMake (SiSwati for the mothers) cooperative.

The women harvest the tall tough lutizi grass that grows abundantly in the country's dry mountainous northern regions and dye it with vivid colours. Then they weave it into a variety of items, from baskets to chandeliers, often combining ceramic and metallic pieces made by local artisans, which are exported to Europe and elsewhere.

"We have close to 800 women members in BoMake, from about 40 when we first started, and each woman supports eight dependants," Yael Uzan-Tidhar, the group's programme director, told IRIN. "From the beginning some of the profits were set aside for the care and schooling of AIDS orphans," she said.

According to UNAIDS, Swaziland has about 56,000 AIDS orphans, from infants to young adults aged 17, while recent figures from World Vision, a Christian relief, development and advocacy organization, indicate that nearly 70 percent of Swaziland's about one million people survive on less than US$0.60 cents a day.

Beyond survival, the women have clear priorities. "We took a survey of all the women ... The top needs were education for their children and water," Mkhuleko Hlatshwako, coordinator of the group's Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programme, told IRIN.

"We have a school fee bursary programme, which started in 2007; this year we are paying school fees for more than 400 children. Water is now the priority ... This is one of BoMake's biggest missions," he said.

The burden of scarce water

It is common for women to travel several kilometres to rivers that may be polluted but are the only available source, yet the hours spent fetching water mean there is less time and energy for weaving.

"Some NGOs drilled boreholes for communal taps that are meant to be the water source for up to three communities, but these can be many kilometres away from where the women live," Hlatshwako said.

In January 2009 BoMake proposed piping water from a river to Makhekhe village, about 80km north of the capital, Mbabane, but government vetoed the idea as the water was determined to be unfit for human consumption, and boreholes were said to be the answer.

The BoMake programme has budgeted US$200,000 in 2009 for its social welfare programmes, including a school bursary fund, a women's literacy initiative, workshops to inform women of their legal rights, and a Playmobile outfitted with toys and games that will travel to rural communities where children are deprived of both.

However, handicraft sales would not provide enough money to drill four boreholes at a cost of $6,000 to $10,000 each to reach, to goals of the WASH programme, and donor funding would have to be secured. Each borehole will support about 64 families.

"We [BoMake] met with the community members and said, 'We're not going to do it all for you. We can network for you to secure donors, but you have to manage this project yourself'. Immediately, they set up a community water committee and opened a bank account for donations," Uzan-Tidhar said.

Donor-sponsored boreholes have a poor track-record in Swaziland - many were placed in communities without consultation and have proved unsustainable, and there are no funds available for repairs or spare parts.

Once Makhekhe has an adequate water supply, BoMake plans to target LaVumisa village, in a dusty, drought-prone area about 200km southeast of Mbabane that is even more water-stressed, where the existing borehole fell into disrepair.

"We didn't know where the pump came from or where to get parts; government didn't know because they didn't build it. It just rusted, and we went back to using the same water source as the cattle," Ambrose Nkambule, a LaVumisa resident, told IRIN. Donkeys are used to transport water because the village is so far from the nearest source.

"This is more than selling beautiful baskets at airport gift shops throughout the world," said Uzan-Tidhar. "The women are engaged in life-sustaining work."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85482CAPE TOWN Tuesday, July 21, 2009 (IRIN) - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Agency (NASA) is devising remote sensing methods to monitor the environmental conditions that cause Rift Valley Fever. CAPE TOWN Tuesday, July 21, 2009 (IRIN) - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Agency (NASA) is devising remote sensing methods to monitor the environmental conditions that cause Rift Valley Fever.

This episodic livestock disease, which occurs every five to ten years and can be transmitted to humans, was first identified by a British veterinary surgeon in Kenya more than 50 years ago. It has since been detected across the African continent and as far afield as the Indian Ocean islands of Comoros and Madagascar.

Remote sensing, a technique that uses recorded or real-time wireless sensing devices to collect information on an object or phenomenon, can be used to determine the environmental conditions that lead to outbreaks.

"The purpose of our research is to provide the first line of defence through international collaborations," Assaf Anyamba, an associate research scientist at NASA's Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center, told IRIN during the International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Earth Observation - Origins to Application, at the University of Cape Town.

"The satellite information we collect and analyze to produce end-user products is then disseminated to our partners; the Food and Agricultural Organization [FAO] takes care of livestock-related disease threats, while the World Heath Organization [WHO] deals with the information relating to human health," he said.

Mapping environmental conditions

Researchers use a variety of remote sensing measurements, including sea surface temperatures, rainfall and vegetation, to predict when parts of Africa and the Middle East might become vulnerable to Rift Valley Fever, which is triggered by persistent, above-normal levels of rainfall in drought-prone areas.

The Horn of Africa experienced outbreaks in 1997-98 and 2006-07 when El Niño struck, bringing the atypical weather patterns associated with a rapid spread of the disease that killed nearly 3,000 people and thousands of livestock.

El Niño is the abnormal warming of surface ocean waters in the eastern tropical Pacific, usually around Christmas, which often occurs simultaneously with the see-saw pattern of reversing surface air pressure between the eastern and western tropical Pacific, called the Southern Oscillation.

"We also produce risk maps based on satellite vegetation data to pinpoint exactly where potential danger lies, as newly formed vegetation usually means rain has just fallen. We can then provide public health officials with an efficient way of being able to focus their resources for control and prevention efforts," Anyamba said.

A drawback in remote sensing is the inability of satellites to penetrate cloud cover, but a pilot project by scientists from Denmark's University of Copenhagen to test new and improved optical systems is underway at weather stations in Senegal, Mali and Kenya.

"The issue is to be able to provide data with a turnaround of three to five [cloud-free] days ... as the whole point of an early warning system is the timeliness of the data," Anyamba said.

Attention for neglected diseases

A number of diseases that have either been neglected or not wholly understood are prevalent in Africa, and it is hoped that the use of remote sensing will also provide a greater understanding of these.

One of them, Buruli ulcer, a treatable but neglected disease caused by the family of bacteria also responsible for tuberculosis and leprosy, is estimated by WHO to affect more than 40,000 people annually in West Africa alone.

Infection leads to the "extensive destruction of skin and soft tissue, with the formation of large ulcers usually on the legs or arms", according to WHO, and "patients who are not treated early often suffer long-term functional disability, such as restriction of joint movement as well as the obvious cosmetic problem."

The reservoir of Buruli ulcer is not known, but scientists and software engineers from Jenoptik, a German defence and civil systems company, have teamed up with the Swiss Tropical Institute to find the source of the disease and map risk areas.

Two studies in Cameroon and Ghana have uncovered several different types of Buruli ulcer, contradicting the assumption that only one type existed, which often led to ineffective treatment.

Kathrin Weise, a Jenoptik software engineer, noted: "The land cover classification and statistical methods ... will be used in our projects to map risk areas and environmental conditions for an outbreak of epidemics of different vector-borne diseases like malaria, meningitis, and Buruli ulcer disease."

rc/go/he http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85368KATHMANDU Friday, July 17, 2009 (IRIN) - Neglect of the rural health system and poor preparedness result in thousands of avoidable diarrhoea-related deaths annually in Nepal, health analysts warn.KATHMANDU Friday, July 17, 2009 (IRIN) - Neglect of the rural health system and poor preparedness result in thousands of avoidable diarrhoea-related deaths annually in Nepal, health analysts warn.

“The diarrhoea epidemic has repeated again due to the government’s lack of effective preventive measures which we have been reminding the officials of every monsoon,” Prakash Amatya, director of NGO Forum for Water and Sanitation, told IRIN.

Most deaths occurred in remote villages in the mid-west region where a large percentage of the population remains vulnerable due to poor sanitation, unsafe drinking water and illiteracy. Many are uneducated about basic hygiene and healthcare.

In addition, there are issues of access, with aid workers struggling to reach these villages because of impassable roads made worse by the rains.

“Our concerns are access and logistics. The affected areas are without electricity, there are no facilities for the health teams coming out,” Wendy Cue, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told IRIN in Kathmandu, the capital.

Even helicopters struggle to land there, she said.

While much of the mid-west was affected, worst hit was Jajarkot district (400km northwest of the capital), where 106 people have reportedly died since 1 May, according to the District Public Health Office, followed by Rukum, about 300km northwest of Kathmandu, where 25 people died between 29 June and 13 July.

Deaths have also been reported from the region’s remote Dailekh, Salyan, Dang and Doti districts.

According to local NGOs, thousands of villagers are vulnerable to diarrhoea in several other districts as well.

The mid-west is one of five regions (east, west, central, mid-west and far west) with the highest concentration of rural poor. While the number of people living on less than US$1 per day in Nepal is 31 percent, that jumps to 45 percent in the mid-west, according to the International Fund for Agricultural Development [see: http://www.ifad.org], a UN agency.

Nearly 14 percent of the country’s 27 million people live here, despite limited access to health, education, roads, telephones, electricity, water supply and sanitation services.

The region has long been isolated from development initiatives, held back by a decade-long armed conflict [see: http://www.irinnews.org/InDepthMain.aspx?InDepthId=11&ReportId=33611] and political instability.

Children worst affected

According to the UN Children’s Agency (UNICEF), about 13,000 children under five die annually from diarrhoea because of poor hygiene and sanitation.

A government report, Nepal Country Plan for International Year of Sanitation 2008 [see: http://www.newah.org.np/uploads/files/International_Year_of_Sanitation_2008.pdf] estimated that only 46 percent of the population had access to basic sanitation.

More than 14 million people, mainly in rural areas, do not have access to latrines, states the report, while over 30 percent do not have access to potable water, according to the Department of Water Induced Disaster Prevention.

“We have failed to take basic health to the remote areas where the situation remains the same as it was decades back,” Bharat Adhikari, an officer with the Nepal Water for Health NGO [see: http://www.newah.org.np/].

“This problem would have never existed if more attention was paid to improving health hygiene and sanitation situation in the rural areas,” Pitamber Sharma, director of the disaster department of the Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) [see: http://www.nrcs.org/], the largest national humanitarian agency in the country, told IRIN.

There was no time to lose, he warned, noting the need for long-term planning rather than short-term emergency interventions after scores of people had died.

But relevant government officials were unavailable to comment for just that reason, as many had left to provide humanitarian assistance in the remote diarrhoea-affected villages.

“The epidemic repeated again this year and has put a big question as to whether those responsible for decades of health education have failed to reach the most vulnerable populations,” Amatya said.

But according to the UN: "It doesn’t help to blame but to look at what needs to be strengthened, what could have been done in terms of prevention and to make this a priority for our development partners," said OCHA’s Cue.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85314DAKAR Wednesday, July 15, 2009 (IRIN) - Since the Sphere Project first published in 2000 its handbook outlining minimum standards in disaster response, much has changed in the aid world. Climate change is the new disaster, humanitarian reforms have reorganized the aid system introducing cluster leads for emergency sectors, and millions more disaster-affected people live in towns rather than rural areas. DAKAR Wednesday, July 15, 2009 (IRIN) - Since the Sphere Project first published in 2000 its handbook outlining minimum standards in disaster response, much has changed in the aid world. Climate change is the new disaster, humanitarian reforms have reorganized the aid system introducing cluster leads for emergency sectors, and millions more disaster-affected people live in towns rather than rural areas.

The Sphere Project, a collaboration of international NGOs and the Red Cross Movement to improve quality disaster responses, is updating its handbook outlining best practices in food aid, nutrition, health, water and sanitation and emergency shelter.

The updated guide, known as the Sphere handbook, will reflect the increasing complexity of the aid world and more explicitly address civil-military relations, disaster risk reduction and early recovery, environmental impact, psychosocial support and the role of cluster leads in humanitarian response.

Nine disaster response sectors - among them education, protection, and early recovery - are headed up by either UN agency or NGO cluster leads to help provide more coherent, coordinated emergency interventions.

Despite an increasingly crowded market-place of new aid quality guidelines and best practices, Adam Poulter, head of the humanitarian team at NGO Care International, told IRIN that Sphere still stands out. “The Sphere handbook is a bit like the “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy”…if you are starting afresh on a sector and need some guidance, use Sphere. It is an all-in-one book and you can travel with it.”

The new handbook, expected to be published in 2010, will provide links to more in-depth companion guides in a number of sectors, including livelihoods and emergency education, and to other quality standards such as the Humanitarian Accountability Project’s Sphere project manager John Damerell told IRIN.

Humanitarian cluster leads are now charged with developing standards and guidelines in their sectors’ disaster response – be it shelter or protection. But Graham Saunders, international shelter head for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC), told IRIN this is a complementary rather than competitive process.

“Sphere is the starting point, it’s the ‘what’, while the clusters can provide the ‘how-to’.”

The IFRC also heads the international emergency shelter cluster. Saunders is one of 22 experts consulting on Sphere’s revisions.

Creating ambitious new standards while keeping the handbook short is a challenge, said Saunders.“It is always going to be a dilemma to provide simple, consistent, clear, concise yet comprehensive guidelines, but we must try.”

Realistic?

Equally challenging is maintaining such standards when there is inadequate funding, access difficulties, resource limitations, and other barriers, according to aid workers.

Ensuring no queues at water sources last more than 15 minutes, one of the current Sphere standards, have rarely been met in camps in Darfur or eastern Chad, aid workers told IRIN.

“This issue comes up all the time,” said IFRC’s Saunders. “But there is no value in having standards that are bad practice – we don’t need the lowest common denominator,” he told IRIN.

He added: “Denying people 3.5m2 of covered living space can compromise safe separation of the sexes, which means a women’s shelter might have to be built, or it could lead to higher transmission of respiratory infections, requiring more frequent health check-up visits.”

Saunders told IRIN the guidelines are a tool to be adapted to each context, and stressed the revised handbook should give better guidance on how to do this.

“If the standards are not met, there will always be other consequences. The problems don't go away…if you can’t meet the standards you don’t give up,” Saunders said.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85285KABUL Wednesday, July 15, 2009 (IRIN) - Most people in the Afghan capital Kabul live in illegal, unplanned and sub-standard houses that are prone to natural disasters and lack water and sanitation facilities, according to government officials.KABUL Wednesday, July 15, 2009 (IRIN) - Most people in the Afghan capital Kabul live in illegal, unplanned and sub-standard houses that are prone to natural disasters and lack water and sanitation facilities, according to government officials.

"Of the [estimated] five million people currently living in Kabul, at least three million are residing in illegal and unplanned houses," Abdul Wahab Sadaat, deputy director of city services at the Kabul Municipality, told IRIN.

"These houses - which make up about 75 percent of the houses in Kabul - are also vulnerable to earthquake, floods and other natural disasters," said Sadaat.

Over the past seven years some militia commanders and powerful groups have seized and sold public property and land, creating a crisis of unregulated urbanization in the capital, officials in the municipality and in the Ministry of Urban Development said.

The rapid and mostly unplanned urbanization in Kabul has brought about serious environmental, health and social problems [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75508].

The population of Kabul has grown substantially, from about one million in 2001 to about five million in 2009, exhausting the city's already limited natural resources, particularly underground water reserves, say government and independent specialists.

"Should the use of underground water continue at its current pace, by 2020 the capital will suffer a serious water shortage," said Noor Ahmad Jawad, a meteorologist at Kabul University.

Meanwhile, many of the mushrooming squatter communities lack water, proper sanitation and health facilities, while waste management in Kabul is becoming a major concern [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73691].

Rapid population growth and urbanization, coupled with limited resources, have put a heavy burden on Kabul's environment and air quality which, according to health officials, hastens the death of more than 3,000 people annually [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82639].

"Greater Kabul"

Officials privately concede they are unable to resolve the crisis of illegal houses in Kabul because of the magnitude of the problem involving millions of people and the involvement of influential individuals who have profited from unregulated urbanization.

Instead, the government and several private companies have drawn up plans for a "Greater Kabul", which is expected to be built on 740 sqkm to the northeast of the city in the next 15-20 years.

"The new, greater Kabul plan addresses all the shortages and problems which we currently have in Kabul city," said Sadaat.

The new city, which will accommodate 1.5 million people initially and three million in the long run, will require US$35.5 billion over 16 years, of which $24 billion should come from the private sector and $11.5 billion from the government and donors, according to officials.

The population in Kabul is predicted to surpass eight million by 2025.

The new city looks good on the map, but specialists question whether the people who have built illegal and sub-standard houses in Kabul will be willing or able to pay for new houses in the greater Kabul.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85286HARARE Monday, July 13, 2009 (IRIN) - A planned urban clean-up campaign in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, motivated by health and safety concerns has evoked fears among some residents of a re-run of President Robert Mugabe's iron-fisted Operation Murambatsvina in 2005.HARARE Monday, July 13, 2009 (IRIN) - A planned urban clean-up campaign in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, motivated by health and safety concerns has evoked fears among some residents of a re-run of President Robert Mugabe's iron-fisted Operation Murambatsvina in 2005.

Operation Murambatsvina left hundreds of thousands of people homeless after "illegal" structures were demolished by soldiers and police on the orders of the then ruling ZANU-PF government, and was widely seen by analysts as the punishment of city-dwellers for giving their overwhelming support to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

However, the proposal for an urban clean-up this time comes from the MDC city council, in the wake of a cholera epidemic that has killed more than 4,000 people and affected about 100,000 others, and the growing perception that Harare is turning into "another Kibera", a reference to one of Africa's largest slums, on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

Harare mayor Muchadeyi Masunda told IRIN: "We cannot have a situation where we allow another Kibera to thrive here in Harare. We have council by-laws, which we have to enforce in order to bring sanity in all council business." He said by-laws were being selectively applied.

"For example, if we allow illegal settlements to continue increasing, and then we get another cholera outbreak during the coming rain season, such illegal settlements would certainly encourage the spread of waterborne diseases because they don't have proper water and sanitation facilities," Masunda pointed out.

"I recently visited one of the vending markets and I was shocked to learn that instead of just 62 stallholders operating from the market, there were more than 800 vendors, which obviously means facilities there are being strained and are compromising health standards."

An audit of rented council accommodation, occupied by illegal tenants over the years, will also be instituted. The council is particularly concerned about mushrooming illegal settlements in the affluent suburbs of Gunhill and Borrowdale, and along the city's watercourses.

"We should not promote anarchy; let us remove all the illegal structures as soon as possible and bring back order," said deputy mayor Emmanuel Chiroto.

The mid-winter timing of the clean-up project is reminiscent of Operation Murambatsvina (Throw out the Trash), which left more than 700,000 people homeless, and affected more than two million throughout the country.

Murambatsvina drew international outrage and prompted the United Nations to dispatch Special Envoy Anna Tibaijuka, who condemned its "indiscriminate and unjustified manner" and "indifference to human suffering."

Mounting resistance

In 2005, informal trader Tichaona Shambare's unplanned dwelling in the western Harare suburb of Kuwadzana was destroyed by army and police units. He has since slowly rebuilt it, but now fears it will again be destroyed.

"I have read in the newspapers that there are plans to launch a clean-up exercise, which will be well-coordinated and will not harm the poor, but I don't believe any of that. We, as the poor people, will be affected, but this time we are prepared to defend our houses and will not allow anybody to demolish them," he told IRIN.

Eldred Masunungure, a political science lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe, said the decision to launch the clean-up campaign could be defended from an urban planning and public health perspective, but "another clean-up exercise could turn out to be very costly politically for the MDC because people will say there is very little difference between ZANU-PF and the MDC," he told IRIN.

Mayor Masunda said the city's long-term plan was to provide low-cost housing to the urban poor.

"When the informal settlements are brought down people will be vetted and deserving cases will be housed in council rented accommodation, while we are also looking at long-term solutions like building more houses."

dd/go/he/oa http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85261DHAKA Monday, July 13, 2009 (IRIN) - Severe pollution is rendering the rivers around the capital, Dhaka, biologically dead, with specialists warning the situation is beyond rescuing.DHAKA Monday, July 13, 2009 (IRIN) - Severe pollution is rendering the rivers around the capital, Dhaka, biologically dead, with specialists warning the situation is beyond rescuing.

“The rivers around Dhaka have too little oxygen for the survival of aquatic life,” Umme Kulsum Navera, assistant professor of Water Resource Engineering (WRE) of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology [see: http://www.buet.ac.bd/], told IRIN.

“The water is especially toxic during the dry seasons,” he said.

While oxygen levels increase during the monsoons, they are still too low for a healthy, thriving aquatic environment.

According to research conducted by the WRE, some invertebrates and small organisms come to life in these rivers when water-flow increases at this time. But in the dry season, these life forms completely disappear in the four major rivers that encircle the city, including the Buriganga, Shitalakhya, Turag and Balu.

According to the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authorities (BIWTA), an average 300,000 people use the Sadarghat terminal on the Buriganga, one of the largest river ports in the world, each day.

Health hazard

In past decades, the changing nature of the river has forced many – particularly fishermen - to switch livelihoods as the Buriganga no longer holds any fish.

“From November through May, what flows through the river is anything but water, only a thick, stinky, black liquid. I haven’t seen a fish or aquatic growth in the river in the past 20 years or so. In our childhood we saw hundreds of fishermen catching fish and dolphins playing around in the Buriganga,” Sheikh Abdur Rahim, 55, a local fruit trader and long-time resident of the Sadarghat area said, a fact echoed by other residents.

Even the slightest physical contact with the water, which could be described as nothing more than raw sewage, is potentially hazardous, say health experts.

“Most of the boatmen around the Buriganga have several types of skin disease. The poisonous water is responsible as there are major toxic elements in the water, from irritants to carcinogens,” Abdal Miah, a dermatologist in Dhaka, told IRIN.

Meanwhile, the Shitalakhya, another major river that flows along the eastern part of the city, has become so polluted that its foul stench can be smelled half a kilometre away.

Dumping

Industrial dumping is primarily responsible for the Buriganga’s state. According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the tanneries around the Buriganga are the leading culprits. [see: http://www.rrcap.unep.org/pub/soe/bangladesh_part1.pdf]

Despite a 1995 Environment Conservation Act, stipulating that all industrial units must have proper treatment plants to get clearance from the Department of Environment (DoE) and hence supplies of gas and electricity [see: http://www.doe-d.org/ETP_Assessment_Guide.pdf], the reality is quite different.

According to the Institute for Environment and Development Studies (IEDS), a leading local environmental NGO, thousands of small and medium factories dump industrial effluent directly into the rivers.

Some 40,000MT of toxic sludge containing hydrogen sulphide, ammonia, chlorine, chromium and other harmful chemicals from the tanneries are discharged into the Buriganga every day. [see: http://www.ucd.ie/dipcon/docs/theme08/theme08_12.PDF]

"The concentration of organic pollutant in the Buriganga is 17 times higher than the allowable limit of 3mg per litre. Chemical pollutants like ammonia, aluminium, cadmium, lead and mercury have also been detected in the Buriganga," SM Mahbubur Rahman, head of the water resource planning division of the Institute of Water Modelling (IWM), said.

The lone sewage treatment facility operated and maintained by Dhaka Water Supply and Sanitation Authority (DWASA) has a treatment capacity of 0.12 million cubic metres per day, while the daily volume of sewage generated in Dhaka city is 1.3 million cubic metres.

The untreated portion is dumped into the rivers around Dhaka. [see: http://www.rrcap.unep.org/reports/soe/dhaka-soe-05/3-7dhaka-sewerage.pdf]

At a conference on drinking water in Dhaka held in May 2009, the Industries Minister Dilip Barua admitted that the industrial sector lacked social responsibility plans, especially when it came to effluent treatment plants.

The installation of such plants would be enforced stringently by the government and efforts would be taken to relocate the tanneries from the capital city, he said.

There are around 700 rivers in Bangladesh with a combined length of more than 24,000km.

ao/ds/mwhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85246PHNOM PENH Friday, July 10, 2009 (IRIN) - A toilet now in the development stage could improve the health of thousands living in Cambodia’s impoverished river communities.PHNOM PENH Friday, July 10, 2009 (IRIN) - A toilet now in the development stage could improve the health of thousands living in Cambodia’s impoverished river communities.

River communities’ homes are typically built on floating platforms and moved seasonally, and rarely have proper latrines. Occupants use the river – the same water they use for drinking, cooking and washing.

The health risks are high: according to Resource Development International–Cambodia [see: http://www.rdic.org/home.htm] , a faith-based NGO, 74 percent of all deaths are due to waterborne diseases, including diarrhoea.

Cambodia has one of the highest infant and under-five mortality rates in the region, at 97 and 141 per 1,000 live births, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports.

Many rural Cambodians see latrines as filthy, preferring open defecation as being more natural.

“It’s not a poverty issue. Some wealthy people in the countryside don’t have good sanitation, and some poor families do have it,” Chea Samnan, director of rural healthcare for the Ministry of Rural Development, said. “It’s an issue of access to the right information.”

As part of its "River of Life" profect, Lien Aid [see: http://www.lienaid.org/home] , a Singaporean-based NGO, is working on what it describes as a “floating toilet”. The toilets - built on floating platforms and attached to homes – will effectively prevent faeces from entering the water.

“We are still in the preliminary stages of testing out the prototypes,” Sahari Ani, Lien Aid’s head, told IRIN.

Eco-sanitation design

The device has three components - a superstructure, a urine diversion pan, and a space for a removable bucket or container for waste material.

Central to the design is the pan itself, effectively separating urine from faeces. A separate section of the pan allows for anal washing.

Materials such as dry soil, ash and wood chips can be added to excreta, thereby reducing odour and pathogens, while cutting the volume of waste.

The semi-decomposed faeces is then treated at a secondary storage chamber for complete decomposition and pathogen destruction, while the nutrient-heavy urine could be used as fertilizer after removal.

Commenting on the merits of the pan, Judy Hagan, project manager of a different operator, the Tonle Sap Floating Latrine Design Project, said separating the two waste materials reduced the bulk and mass of the faeces that needed to be treated, making it more viable in a floating environment.

Key challenges

But introducing such concepts in a country like Cambodia will not be easy.

As floating river communities exist only in Cambodia and a handful of other Asian nations, latrines designed specifically for their needs are rare and expensive.

Added to this is the country’s lack of qualified engineers, poor sanitation infrastructure and low level of hygiene awareness.

“The more difficult challenge is to help the community build up the human resources necessary to make the venture financially sustainable over the long term,” Sahari Ani said.

According to the World Bank, only 16 percent of rural Cambodians have a proper toilet, the lowest level in Southeast Asia.

Moreover, despite the country’s abundant freshwater rivers and lakes, 60 percent of its population do not have access to safe water and 85 percent are without adequate sanitation, Lien Aid stated.

Cost effectiveness

While an exact price for the device is still being determined, the NGO hopes costs can be kept to a minimum, with families possibly purchasing building material in bulk to keep down costs.

One-third of Cambodians live on less than US$0.50 a day, according to government statistics, making cost a significant factor.

“We will still try to keep costs down by exploring the use of [local] materials and by encouraging local entrepreneurs to manufacture the required parts,” Lien Aid’s head explained.

Although fairly new, villagers in Cambodia have already been learning how to construct cheaper latrines for as little as $15 each from the community-led total sanitation programme, started in 2005 by UNICEF and Cambodia’s Ministry of Rural Development.

And while not of the floating toilet type, the self-built, cost-effective latrines could provide further impetus to the floating toilet prototype once their use becomes more widespread.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85220HARARE Wednesday, July 08, 2009 (IRIN) - Despite a steady drop in newly registered cases and cholera-related deaths in Zimbabwe, the onset of the summer rainy season in September has aid agencies worried that the disease could spike again, and relief from Africa's worst cholera outbreak in 15 years may be short-lived. HARARE Wednesday, July 08, 2009 (IRIN) - Despite a steady drop in newly registered cases and cholera-related deaths in Zimbabwe, the onset of the summer rainy season in September has aid agencies worried that the disease could spike again, and relief from Africa's worst cholera outbreak in 15 years may be short-lived.

"There are fears of yet another outbreak," Tsitsi Singizi, information Officer of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), told IRIN. Since cholera was first reported in August 2008, close to 100,000 people have been infected and over 4,000 have died.

Aid agencies have been gearing up for the eventuality of a serious comeback by drilling 200 new boreholes in cholera hotspots, distributing hygiene kits, and sensitization and education efforts to better equip Zimbabweans to cope.

"The water problems which spurred on the outbreak last year [2008] still persist, so as we draw towards the wet season, we are bracing ourselves for another outbreak," Singizi said.

Zimbabwe often records cholera cases during the rainy season, but the economic implosion has meant that the underlying issues responsible for the epidemic - collapsed sewerage systems, poor access to adequate drinking water and continued failure to collect refuse - have yet to be addressed.

"We have started procuring oral rehydration and IV [intravenous] fluids, which are the first line in the defence for someone affected by cholera," Singizi noted.

Too late and too little

"The government has had to scrounge around in order to give the city of Harare [the capital] the money in order to deal with problems associated with water and sanitation. Harare was the epicentre of the cholera outbreak," Finance minister Tendai Biti told IRIN.

"We want to ensure that does not happen [again] as we approach the rain season, so it is a race against time." Biti said he had allotted some US$17 million to the Harare municipality to address the water reticulation and sewerage system issues.

The money will be spent on rehabilitating the capital's water treatment and distribution network and sewerage system. "We hope the city of Harare will be able once again to provide clean water to all its residents, and that cholera will be a thing of the past," he commented.

Water development minister Sam Sipepa Nkomo said it would take at least US$21 million. "That is the correct amount needed to completely overhaul the Harare water and sewerage network. However, this financial injection is a positive development and a step in the right direction."

fd/tdm/hehttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85186DHAKA Monday, July 06, 2009 (IRIN) - More than a month after Cyclone Aila battered southern Bangladesh, hundreds of thousands of people are still unable to return to their homes, and the government and aid agencies are struggling to provide basic relief. DHAKA Monday, July 06, 2009 (IRIN) - More than a month after Cyclone Aila battered southern Bangladesh, hundreds of thousands of people are still unable to return to their homes, and the government and aid agencies are struggling to provide basic relief.

“As of 2 July, 350,000 people were still living in makeshift shelters in open fields, schools, embankments and cyclone centres,” Muhammad Badi Akhter, a programme manager for Oxfam, told IRIN.

“The cyclone destroyed our home. Even if I return to my village, I don’t know how I will survive. My family lost everything to the cyclone,” Marium Begum, a resident of Koira sub-district, told IRIN.

Damaged sanitation systems and lack of access to drinking water are the main problems in the most severely affected areas, say experts.

According to Bangladesh’s Disaster Management Bureau (DMB), 500,000-750,000 people are in need of water and sanitation support.

“All the ponds and tube wells are full of sea water. If it were not for the water supplied by relief workers, we would surely have died,” Rahmat Ghazi, a 49-year-old farmer from the Dacope area of Khulna District, said.

International aid agencies CARE, Oxfam, Save the Children USA and the government’s Department of Public Health and Engineering (DPHE) are currently providing water purification services in flood-affected regions.

Embankments

Aila damaged over 1,700km of flood embankments and left large parts of the southern coastal region inundated with sea water. More than 320,000 acres of cropland were flattened and over 150,000 livestock lost, according to DMB.

“The biggest threat to these people is the washed out embankments,” Mohammad Abul Quasem of the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS) said, referring to the intricate network of earth embankments protecting local communities.

“Villages already swamped by sea water are further threatened by the monsoon. With the rain, water levels of the rivers are sure to rise. There is little chance these people will be able to start reorganizing their lives until the water recedes,” he warned.

Government response

On 3 June the government moved to help around 176,000 Aila-hit farmers.

To ensure farmers do not miss out on this year’s monsoon planting season, which begins now, fertilizers and rice seeds will be distributed in 75 sub-districts in 12 of the Aila-affected districts.

Initially, each farmer will receive 5kg of paddy seed and 35kg of urea and phosphate fertilizers. Later, during the winter farming season, they will get more seeds and fertilizers. The project will cost around US$5.5 million.

"We want to restore farmers’ confidence by providing them with seeds and fertilizers,” Agriculture Minister Begum Matia Chowdhury said, adding: “We also want to prove that the government is conscious of its responsibility to the affected people.”

Cyclone Aila struck coastal Bangladesh on 25 May, killing 190 people, injuring more than 7,000, and affecting more than 3.9 million. More than 600,000 thatched houses in 11 of the country’s 64 districts were damaged or destroyed, the DMB reported.

oa/ds/cbhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85141KIGALI Friday, July 03, 2009 (IRIN) - Electrogaz, Rwanda’s public utility, is considering water rationing due to shortages caused by a prolonged drought in parts of the country, officials said.KIGALI Friday, July 03, 2009 (IRIN) - Electrogaz, Rwanda’s public utility, is considering water rationing due to shortages caused by a prolonged drought in parts of the country, officials said.

Yves Muyange, the acting chief executive, said the country was now facing a deficit of up to 22,000 cubic metres of water every day and had no alternative until supplies had been boosted.

"Starting this month, we are going to conduct rationing tests across major towns in the country to find out how to implement the programme," he said.

Muyange said efforts were under way to increase water production across the densely populated country of nine million people.

Environmental specialists blame the drought on climate change, with erratic rainfall and frequent dry spells combining to increase water shortages.

Muyange said rationing would ensure that at least the whole country received some water for limited hours daily, to avoid situations where some areas went without water for weeks.

Inadequate water supply puts densely populated areas at risk of waterborne diseases, including cholera and dysentery.

Godie Kwizera, a resident of Gatuna area near the border with Uganda, said water shortages had forced some residents to resort to unsafe water sources such as streams.

"Water goes off for around five days and comes for a few hours before disappearing again; maybe rationing will help us a bit,” Kwizera told IRIN on 2 July.

Population pressure

Experts say population pressure has led to a rapid degradation of the wetlands and forests over the past two decades, making the population prone to hazards of climate change. It is estimated that in the past two decades, Rwanda has lost about 60 percent of its forest cover.

In June, Electrogaz started talks with farmers around the Mulindi wetland, the main source of water for up to a million Kigali residents, on how to share water. The wetland is also the main source of irrigation water for local farmers.

As the drought bites, local residents have increased the amount of water used to irrigate their crops, leaving little water for town dwellers.

"It is like a double jeopardy: reduced water poses a threat to the crops in the valley just like it does to town residents, but most importantly, the country could be hit by food shortages,” Moses Twahirwa, an economist in Kigali, said.

In 2008, a Canada-based firm, Ecosystem Restoration Associates, signed a US$17 million deal with the Rwandan government to implement forestation and reforestation projects in a bid to help the country replace its forest cover and address the impact of climate change.

Stanislas Kamanzi, the Minister of Natural Resources, said the government continued to reform and implement policies to protect the environment, which is under threat from widespread poverty, rapid population growth and weak regulations.

According to the National Institute of Statistics, Rwanda's population has quadrupled in the past 50 years and with nine million people occupying 26,338 sqkm of land, the country remains one of the most densely populated in the world.

nb/mwhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85116MUKALLA Thursday, June 25, 2009 (IRIN) - A water company in Hadhramaut Governorate, southern Yemen, has discovered an important new source of water near the provincial capital, Mukalla, after four months of exploration.MUKALLA Thursday, June 25, 2009 (IRIN) - A water company in Hadhramaut Governorate, southern Yemen, has discovered an important new source of water near the provincial capital, Mukalla, after four months of exploration.

"Using modern machinery, we have discovered a huge underground drinking water resource in Al-Ghaliah on the outskirts of Mukalla," Awadh Al-Ganzal, head of the Local Corporation for Water Supply and Sanitation (LCWSS), told IRIN.

"Our preliminary assessments regarding the newly discovered field have shown that it will provide Mukalla with potable water for the next 50 years… Water quality is great."

"The field in Al-Ghaliah consists of nine wells, each able to produce 30 litres a second. It will definitely supply the city with drinking water for decades to come,” said Mahfood Obaid Bagwaigo, manager of the Mukalla Water Supply and Sanitation company.

“Engineers struck water in sandstone at a depth of 225-320 metres. They couldn't go beyond that because of the immense pressure of water in the reservoir," he added.

Mohammed al-Mashjri, dean of the faculty of Environmental Science at Hadhramaut University of Science and Technology, did not rule out the possibility of such a find. ”When the Canadians started oil exploration in the early 90s in Hadhramaut, their satellite pictures suggested a huge underground reservoir in Wadi Hadhramaut [the Hadhramaut Valley],” he said.

A paper delivered at a Vienna conference in 1996 suggested that a “significant deep groundwater resource may exist” in the Hadhramaut-Masila region of southern Yemen.

Al-Ganzal said LCWSS had discovered many promising new water resources in Hadhramaut. “We recently drilled two new wells in Gusair which will provide water west of Mukalla. Work is currently being completed. We have also discovered a new water resource in Wadi Haram."

Contamination

Despite the discoveries there are persistent threats to water resources. One of them is salt water intrusion. "Salinity is posing a great threat to the groundwater in the coastal city of Mukalla. Some wells have been completely contaminated by sea water, and rehabilitation is expensive," Al-Ganzal said.

Gahtan Al-Asbahi, a senior official in the National Water Resources Authority (NWRA), told IRIN untreated sewage, mining and building refuse, and the oil spilt by garages also posed threats to Hadhramaut's water sources.

Without naming names or making any specific allegations, Al-Asbahi also pointed the finger at oil companies. "The government has recently formed a committee to investigate," he said.

Abdulkarim Bahakim, NWRA manager responsible for the Hadhramaut Valley area, told IRIN the digging of unauthorized wells, the dumping of raw sewage in deep boreholes and the use of fertilizers were significant threats to clean water sources for cities like Tarim, Seyoun and Qaten.

Many people in rural areas “are totally unaware of the risks of dumping sewage in the ground - something that must be stopped. Raw sewage can seep into the groundwater and contaminate it," he said.

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in 2000, 90 percent of water was used for agriculture, 8 percent by people and 2 percent by industry. Most of the water taken from wells and springs resulted in groundwater depletion as the withdrawal rate exceeded annual groundwater recharge from rainfall. In coastal zones overexploitation of groundwater led to salt water intrusion, it said.

sab/at/cbhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=84999NAIROBI Friday, June 19, 2009 (IRIN) - Ever-worsening security in Somalia is prompting large numbers of civilians to flee into Kenya, where facilities to host them are stretched to bursting point, raising fears of a major refugee crisis.NAIROBI Friday, June 19, 2009 (IRIN) - Ever-worsening security in Somalia is prompting large numbers of civilians to flee into Kenya, where facilities to host them are stretched to bursting point, raising fears of a major refugee crisis.

Dadaab in eastern Kenya, is home to an estimated 279,000 mainly Somali refugees - triple its designated capacity. Its Dagahaley, Hagadera and Ifo camps together comprise the largest refugee site in the world.

Kenya's closure of its Somali border in January 2007 did little to stem the tide. "On average, about 7,000 Somali refugees are coming into the country every month this year," Kellie Leeson, International Rescue Committee (IRC) country director for Kenya, told IRIN.

"We need more land for Dadaab to spread the camp out so that people can live in dignity," she said. The UN Refugee Agency (UNCHR) is talking with the Kenyan government in an effort to obtain more land.

IRC is providing healthcare services in Dadaab as well as water and sanitation services in Kakuma camp, northwestern Kenya.

“The high [refugee] population has made it extremely challenging to deliver services,” Leeson said. “Water has been a really big challenge as well as provision of adequate latrines.”

Overcrowding

"The overcrowding [in Dadaab] means that international standards for basic services are not being met," according to Refugees International. 

"There is a shortfall of 36,000 latrines and 50 percent of the refugees have access to less than 13 litres of water per day," the NGO said in recent special report on Somali refugees.

The agency went on to appeal for the reopening of a reception centre for Somali refugees shut by the Kenyan authorities in May 2008. "This will ensure an orderly and humane screening and registration process, while having the added benefit for the Kenyan government of reducing cross-border security threats."

On this point Leeson said: "Health screening at a border reception centre is needed in order to prevent the spread of disease inside the congested camps.”

In March, Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned that Kenya was in the midst of a rapidly escalating refugee crisis. 

Between August 2008 and the end of February 2009, "just over 35,000 new arrivals [in Dadaab] received no shelter and have been forced to sleep under open skies in makeshift shelters that provide little protection from the harsh weather, or in cramped confines with relatives or strangers who were already living in conditions well below minimum humanitarian standards,” HRW said.

Soured relations

Relations with the surrounding Kenyan population have also at times soured. “The host community is struggling especially with the high food prices and drought,” Leeson said. IRC, along with UNHCR, and other partners, is working with local community leaders in an effort to prevent conflict in Dadaab and Kakuma.

The local community neighbouring Dadaab has in the past resisted the expansion of the camp boundaries, saying it is already encroaching on their land.

In Kakuma, most of the refugees are of Somali origin, coming either via Dadaab or Nairobi. Its population has almost halved since 2006 due to the large scale repatriation of its Sudanese population in the wake of a 2005 peace accord.

“Now there are about 42,000 refugees remaining in the camp, who can't yet return home, and are fully dependent on [external support],” she said.

“A lot of people thought Kakuma would just go [away],” she said, "But the numbers of refugees are still high and we must meet their urgent needs."

Dependency

A statement by the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) said: "Ten percent of the refugees in Kakuma have lived in the camp for over 10 years, some longer than 15 with no perspective and no hope of a durable solution. This causes dependency and problems with the local community."

According to JRS, societies and governments tend to perceive refugees as a problem. "But, we need to see that behind the large numbers are human beings like you and me. They have been uprooted from their countries by conflict, persecution or violence," said Frido Pflueger, JRS/Eastern Africa director.

IRC's Leeson urged the Kenyan government to also fully implement its own Refugees' Act of 2006. "On paper, the act gives rights to refugees, but in practice it is not yet fully enforced and many people in positions of authority aren't aware of its content or the rights it confers," she said. “We also urgently need extended funds as the [refugee] population continues to grow.”

aw/am/cbhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=84920