In Myanmar, the danger is now cholera

Giada Aquilaino – Vatican City

There is no safe place in Mandalay or SAGAING at this time. ” It is Myanmar, in the collapse, the following is the testimony of Ralph Niko Thil, the national director of hunger in Myanmar, in the conversation of Yangon with the Vatican media three days after the catastrophic earthquake that shook a country in Southeast Asia, along with Thailand. Before the temporary balance of the dead, which is updated every hour, with 2000 deaths according to the Military Council in power since 2021 in Naypyidaw, Thill explains how these numbers can, unfortunately, “more increase” because many areas are not accessible. The phone and the Internet system in the most affected areas “may collapse completely, disastrous mode.”

She shelter, food and water needed

“People continue to sleep on the street. They have access to drinking water. People.” Wide -spreading need: shelter, food, water. Medical service completely collapsed. One of the biggest concerns is that due to heat, we can suffer from the cholera epidemic: We already have diarrhea. ” It is currently “between 38 and 40 degrees Celsius” and between June and July as well, in a country “facing several crises at the same time. There is a four -year civil war – between the army and the ethnic militias, and now, the earthquake was the most” population “.

The regions are already criticism in front of the earthquake

The United Nations condemned the disability of relief work by the military attack against militias, especially in the northeastern state of Shan, on Friday, the day of the 7.7 -magnitude earthquake. But at the same time, the Tiloric wave did not stop. The Earth trembles regularly: many buildings have collapsed and fear that people who work to save survivors are also affected. Mandalay «with a population of 1.6 million, so, of course, there are more people affected there. However, the situation is much worse in the basic services in Sagaing, where the health system collapsed even before this catastrophe, in a difficult area as well. ” In addition, Thill notes that there were already “1.8 million people of the displaced” in this field, the people who “must now deal with this earthquake in addition to everything else.”

Huge psychological damage

Currently, the work against hunger, which has been working in Myanmar since 1994, has a team on its way to the affected area, “Thilly”. We focus on food security and drinking water as the first stage. The second will focus more on medical supplies, nutrition, especially children, and mental health. What “is also important to understand,” confirms, is that Myanmar “is a closed country: the border is very few at home.”

Commitment to childhood

The United Nations gave a warning to 6.7 million children living in Myanmar, a country that is already subject to hunger, poverty and insecurity. Work against hunger is an international organization specialized in supporting pregnant women and children under the age of five, so it works in coordination with local organizations. This, “Thil says,” also helps avoid coordination and corruption problems. ”