Army continues relief measures

Staff Reporter
KOLKATA: Even as the agencies concerned struggle to contain the outbreak of enteric diseases in areas affected by the cyclone Aila, the Army has sustained relief efforts and medical aid to North and South 24 Parganas, the districts of West Bengal worst affected by the cyclone.

Senior officers of Eastern Command, including Major General Ravi Dastane, VSM, GOC Bengal Area, visited the cyclone-affected villages in Gosaba on Tuesday.

Sixteen medical teams, each with one doctor and four medical assistants, have been deployed in the area since June 4 and have treated over 8,000 people for diarrhoea, dysentery as well as respiratory and skin infections. Diarrhoea has affected over 5,000 and has killed about 10 people, government officials said. The medical teams provide training to the locals in water sterilisation and first-aid.

Even as the waters recede, tube wells have submerged and saline water has mingled with the sweet water sources in the Sunderbans, causing a scarcity of drinking water and an outbreak of enteric diseases.
Army continues relief measures

Tailpiece: Do the state civil authorities have a disaster management drill in place? The Military is called out as a routine to manage disasters. In fact most of the civil authorities vanish from place of disaster to save their skin!