In
the middle of the desert, access to clean water can be the difference
between life and death. In the urban oasis of Bam, there is
plenty of this vital element but the challenge is to get it
to the people who need it.
“The water is fine in Bam,” says Sara Escudero,
a water and sanitation engineer deployed by the Spanish Red
Cross for the relief operation. Water is found 200 meters below
the ground, so it was not contaminated by the disaster.
“The problem is that the earthquake destroyed all of the
water distribution system in the city, which can affect the
quality of the water once it arrives at the end user,”
she emphasises.
Since the beginning of the relief operation, the Iranian Red
Crescent has distributed bottled water and placed water tanks
throughout many neighbourhoods.
Water trucks
Just after the earthquake, only 20 per cent of the population
had access to water from the regular system. Although not drinkable,
it could be used for washing and cleaning.
Now about half the water is available through the normal system.
The rest must be delivered by water trucks, mostly dispatched
from other parts of Iran. Once the trucks leave, there will
be a need to supply the city with storage tanks.
With this in mind, and due to the risk of contamination, the
Federation deployed water and sanitation emergency response
units from the Austrian, French, German, Spanish and Swedish
Red Cross. These units were deployed within 48 hours of the
disaster.
One main objective achieved has been to ensure the water supply
to the newly constructed Red Cross and Red Crescent hospital,
set up with the financial support of European Union’s
humanitarian office, as well as two other Red Cross clinics,
set up by the german and Japanese Red Cross Societies.
“The water must be in optimal condition for medical staff
to clean the instruments and do medical interventions in the
hospital and clinics,” says Dr. Richard Munz, International
Federation health co-ordinator in Bam.
Since these health facilities have been put in place, more than
10,000 patients have been assisted.
Diarrhoea
The Red Cross Red Crescent operation is also supplying water
to Iranian Red Crescent-managed camps which will cater to those
among the 80,000 homeless who have no other shelter for the
winter.
So far, no epidemics have broken out, mainly due to the cold
weather and the quality of the water available in the city.
“Luckily the only water-related disease we have seen so
far is diarrhoea, which is normal in such situations.
However we are preparing for any emergency that might happen”
says Munz. The United Nations has warned that a shortage of
latrines in the city could provoke major health problems.
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| After
a major disaster, people are more likely to fall ill as
a result of inadequate sanitation and water supplies.
Providing safe water has therefore been one of the central
concerns in the Federation's response to the Bam earthquake
(p11130) |
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| An
example of the global response to the Bam earthquake.
The Spanish Red Cross emergency team provide safe water
to the Japanese Red Cross health clinic (p11127)
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| German
Red Cross water and sanitation experts ensure that staff
and patients at the Federation's field hospital are supplied
with safe water (p11126) |
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| A
woman receives water at Iranian Red Crescent distribution
point. The quality of water, allied to the cold weather,
has so far averted any epidemics in Bam (p11128)
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