Gastroenteritis, pneumonia and bronchitis make misery for children in camps
19/02/2006
We now have 106 children whose parents are missing in our care. In Muzaffarabad, conditions are steadily worsening as winter reaches its peak. The main road from Islamabad to Muzaffarabad is now frequently closed due to heavy snowfall, rain and resulting landslides. The army has also been regularly forced to stop helicopter flights due to fog.
Temperatures in and around Muzaffarabad continue to fall and are expected to reach about -16°C, and with many of the tents in the emergency camps of inadequate spec for the conditions, and a number of camps awash from heavy rainfall conditions are tough. Many children in Muzaffarabad and the surrounding area are becoming ill and are suffering from pneumonia and bronchitis. As a result of the mostly unhygienic conditions, our "search and rescue" team has also reported a lot of cases of gastroenteritis at the emergency camps.
The (Norwegian spec) tents provided by SOS Children are surviving well and are built to withstand the severe winter conditions.
The SOS Children's Village in Muzaffarabad is still cut off by landslides. Our "search and rescue" team has therefore moved its base from the village to another shelter some 2 hours away in order to continue their work. From here, the team has begun venturing into the very remote areas that have been badly affected by snowfall, where they continue to distribute emergency relief goods and to look for unaccompanied children.
There are currently 106 children without parents in the care of SOS Children's Villages, of which:
• 35 children, mostly requiring special medical attention, are being cared for at the children's village in Lahore. As the village is positioned next to a large hospital, the children can therefore be cared for by SOS staff and receive regular medical treatment at the hospital.
• 25 children, mostly very young children, have been integrated into the children's village in Rawalpindi.
• 40 are being cared for at a new and recently set up emergency shelter at the children's village in Rawalpindi.
• 6 are still at the SOS Youth Facility in Rawalpindi, which previously served as the main SOS Emergency shelter.
Relevant Countries: Pakistan.