AFTER THE FLOOD

摘要

The small village of velankanni, on the southeastern coast of India, is thought to be a holy place. It draws Christian pilgrims to a Roman Catholic basilica there, as well as Muslims and Hindus seeking blessings and good fortune. In Velankanni, Christians, Muslims and Hindus together prayed for their dead last week—and all the while struggled desperately to save the living. In the wake of the tsunami, at least 75,000 people, half the population of the area affected, have crowded into hastily built refugee camps that became instant incubators for disease. Critical supplies-medicine, potable water, disinfectant—are sorely lacking. In one camp set up in a Hindu temple, 2,500 people are sleeping and eating next to their own excrement. Four days after the tsunami hit, some 4,000 people in Velankanni were already being treated for vomiting and diarrhea, according to the head of a local health charity. Relief workers fear an imminent outbreak of cholera, gastroenteritis and hepatitis B. "The situation is very, very serious," says Dr. V. Ramani, director of the Gandheepam Global Foundation, an Indian health nongovernmental organization (NGO). "The government has to start moving to the villages [instead of] expecting people to come to them."