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http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/SNAA-7WH89C?OpenDocument&rc=5&emid=TS-2009-000209-ASM
Disease outbreaks feared in tsunami-battered Samoa
Source: Agence France-Presse (AFP)
Date: 03 Oct 2009
by Cherelle Jackson
APIA, Oct 3, 2009 (AFP) - Fears of deadly outbreaks of disease in tsunami-battered
Samoa mounted Saturday, as frightened survivors sheltering on higher ground refused to
return to their beachfront villages.
As roads and beaches were cleared of debris and rebuilding began, planeloads of medical
supplies were rushed to the Pacific island nation which was pounded by massive waves
following a 8.0-magnitude undersea quake Tuesday.
The number of people confirmed dead from the tragedy in Samoa, American Samoa and
Tonga reached 176 Saturday with grave fears for 12 others still missing and officials
warned the toll would rise.
Dr Limbo Fiu, a manager with the National Health Service in Samoa, said a second wave
of deaths was looming as the injured continued to trickle into hospitals.
"In a few weeks, we will see many people sick with gastroenteritis and diarrhoea. That will
affect the young and the elderly. Deaths are inevitable," he told reporters.
Tautala Mauala, secretary general of the Samoa Red Cross, said health officials had met
in Apia Saturday to coordinate a health strategy, with epidemic disease becoming a
growing concern.
"There are concerns with sanitation, and clean water is much needed," she told AFP. "We
are already hearing some news of gastroenteritis and diarrhoea outbreaks, and there is a
high potential likelihood of emerging diseases."
Mauala estimated up to 3,000 people lost their homes in the tsunami, with most now living
with family and friends, many overcrowding existing houses.
Others are camping out in school buildings or living in crude homes under tarpaulins or
tents in plantations and refusing to return to their traditional coastal settlements,
Rosemarie North of the Samoa Red Cross said.
In the worst-hit areas along the southern coast of the main Samoan island of Upolu,
families have abandoned their wiped-out villages and moved inland, posing problems for
relief workers trying to bring them water and supplies.
North said that some villagers were too scared to return and in many cases the tsunami
had changed the landscape and scoured away the land on which their homes and gardens
once stood.
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Paneta Sagale Lauiliu, who lost his mother in the tragedy, said his family would abandon
its seaside home in favour of higher ground.
"We have no intention of moving back down," he told AFP from a camp an hour's walk
from the coast. "There's no way we're going back to the beach and I don't think anyone
else in our village will do that."
Lauiliu, whose four-year-old son Sepi was swept up by the tsunami and survived by
clinging to a banana tree, said his family was considering abandoning its beach hut rental
business.
There are hopes that Thursday's mass burial of the victims will help Samoans put the
disaster behind them.
"Trauma has been seen as an issue, a lot of these people went very far inland because of
fear and are afraid to return," the Samoa Red Cross's Mauala said.
"People are still in trauma and a lot of them don't want to answer questions or talk about
what they've been through."
The earthquake and resulting tsunami, which left 135 dead and eight missing in Samoa,
32 dead in neighbouring American Samoa and nine dead in the Pacific island nation of
Tonga, has prompted an international air effort.
Australia has sent 88 medical and search personnel to assist in recovery efforts while a
New Zealand Air Force Boeing 757 landed in Samoa Saturday carrying police dog search
teams and medical experts.
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