Water Shortage Threatens Thousands in Delta

By SAW YAN NAING

A water crisis is threatening the livelihoods of thousands of cyclone survivors in Burma’s Irrawaddy delta, the international aid agency Save the Children warned on Thursday.

Shazia Khan, a spokesperson for Save the Children, said that the lack of safe drinking water is a major concern because many wells and drinking pools in the region are still contaminated nearly six months after Cyclone Nargis struck on May 2-3.

As the end of the monsoon season approaches, it will become more difficult for people in the region to survive by collecting rainwater, she added.

“With the beginning of the dry season, the problem is that a lot of wells and drinking pools are still contaminated. So we are really worried about people not having enough water in the next few months,” she said.

Children are expected to be especially affected by the water shortage, as they are highly vulnerable to diseases associated with poor sanitary conditions.

“The lack of clean water will directly impact the health of children,” said Andrew Kirkwood, the country director for Save the Children in Burma.

Save the Children estimates that around 40 percent of the 140,000 people who were killed or went missing after the cyclone were children. Many who survived were orphaned or separated from their parents.

The slow pace of the recovery in the delta is also having dire consequences for the economic prospects of survivors.

“One of our major concerns is that we want to make sure that families get back on their feet,” said Khan, who added that Save the Children was not just providing families with short-term assistance, but also with the means to help them rebuild their livelihoods.

“A lot of families lost everything. They lost their fishing boats and their land, any means of earning a living,” she said.

According to Save the Children, the cyclone flooded about 600,000 hectares of agricultural land, killed up to 50 percent of livestock in the delta, and destroyed fishing boats, food stocks and agricultural implements.

“It is expensive to rebuild one’s life, and even more so for the poor,” said Kirkwood. “Any new financial obligations could force people to make difficult choices in regard to the food they buy or whether they can send their children to school.”

Save the Children is currently trying to complete a range of measures to increase access to safe water and develop the ability of families to manage over the upcoming months and supervise the health of children.

The charity is working in 14 of the 15 worst-affected townships in Burma and has reached about 500,000 people with lifesaving food and water, shelter materials and household and hygiene items.