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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
INDIAN OCEAN UPDATES
In this section:
Medical Aid Follows Bangladesh Tornadoes
First Aid Team Travels to India Coast
Shelters Built for Displaced Sri Lankans
Medical Aid Follows Bangladesh Tornadoes
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Dr. Shofiul Alam, research physician of the JiVitA
project, removes embedded debris from an injured Naldanga
resident, assisted by a nurse from a sister USAID-funded
project, NGO Service Delivery Program.
Alain Labrique |
On March 20, tornadoes raced through the Gaibandha and Rangpur
districts in northwest Bangladesh, flattening close to 10,000
homes, cutting off electricity, and damaging crops. Thousands
were injured and left homeless; at least 65 people died.
Most of the devastated areas coincided with the locations
of the JiVitA project, which is funded by USAID and the government
of Bangladesh’s National Integrated Population and Health
Program to assess the impact of vitamin supplements on pregnant
women and their babies.
In the storm’s immediate aftermath, JiVitA staffers
switched into emergency mode. Over the next five days, they
established seven emergency medical camps and treated 2,150
people. Six doctors, six nurses, and others worked from early
morning to nightfall dressing wounds, suturing lacerations,
providing antibiotics, and referring and transporting emergency
cases to hospitals.
“The sight of wet, dazed, injured villagers, wrapped
in muddy blankets, stumbling out of the dark [was] haunting,”
said Alain Labrique, country representative with Johns Hopkins
University. “Many of the injured had packed their wounds
with grasses and herbs, sometimes earth, making cleaning the
wounds extremely challenging. Women carried small babies in
their blood- and mud-caked arms.
“Using only flashlights, water, liquid soap, and cotton
and gauze, we stopped the bleeding and cleaned wounds as best
as possible. Just when we thought the worst was over and we
had handled the most critical patients, another wave would
appear.”
The group continued providing emergency medical support
at the request of the district administration and the local
health community for several days after the storms had passed.
Today, most relief efforts in the area are focused on reconstructing
and rebuilding homes, schools, and other institutions destroyed
by the tornadoes. According to a recent field report, four
teams of JiVitA workers are continuing to assess and evaluate
the damage and human loss, as well as rebuild the project’s
infrastructure.
JiVitA, which means “alive” in Bengali, was designed
to reduce the high incidence of maternal mortality in Bangladesh.
Each year, approximately 20,000 women who give birth in Bangladesh
die from pregnancy-related causes. JiVitA is running two community
trials to determine if micronutrient deficiencies contribute
to the high maternal mortality rate, and if taking certain
supplements can improve maternal, fetal, and infant health
and survival.
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Dr. Barkat Ullah, senior research physician of the
JiVitA project, is assisted by Alain Labrique, Johns
Hopkins University project scientist, and Mohammad Akteruzzaman,
chief administrative officer, in providing emergency
first aid to an injured victim of the Naldanga tornado.
Mahbubur Rashid |
First Aid Team Travels to India Coast
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Dr. K. R. John of the Christian Medical College, Vellore,
examines a Thirumullaivasal woman who suffered physical
and psychological trauma when pinned under a wall during
the tsunami.
USAID/India |
TAMIL NADU, India—Christian Medical College
(CMC) was one of the first organizations to react when the
December 26 tsunami flooded this Indian state. The group says
it will stay and help coastal communities rebuild over the
coming years.
Dr. Suresh David, head of CMC emergency medicine, led the
first aid team from the college’s campus in Vellore to
the hard-hit Nagapattinam coast. Dr. David and his colleagues
are natives of southern India, familiar with the language
and the customs of the coastal people.
That first-contact treatment team was quickly followed by
more specialized teams making the seven-hour drive from Vellore,
which is between Chennai and Bangalore. Local government coordinators
asked CMC to identify and train local people in post-traumatic
stress counseling.
Workshops were quickly arranged for church leaders, community
volunteers, and local health personnel to establish basic
procedures and techniques for addressing the mental health
needs of a highly stressed population.
Over the next year, CMC will provide comprehensive health
monitoring and psychological counseling, as well as help to
restart the local economy along the Thirumullaivasal coastal
area of Nagapattinam district, south of Pondicherry.
CMC’s Community Health Department will work with local
leadership of the fishing and fish-processing community to
determine whether supplies and services match local needs.
A grant recipient of USAID’s American Schools and Hospital
Abroad Program, CMC has become one of the premier health providers
in southern India. It serves over a million outpatients a
year and maintains 2,000 beds.
Shelters Built for Displaced Sri Lankans
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A boy works on a temporary housing project for Sri
Lankans displaced by the tsunami.
Ben Barber, USAID |
BALAPITIYA, Sri Lanka—Since the tsunami swept
away his home and livelihood, Sri Lankan fisherman B. Disannayake
and his wife, Mahalini, have heard a lot of promises. Few
of them have been kept.
“None of us has had a full night’s sleep for weeks,”
said Mahalini. “The heat in the tent has been unbearable
for the children, so one of the babies was always fussing
and waking up the others. The older children had a hard time
making it to school in the mornings.”
In early April, the family got a better place to live. Atop
the foundation of their destroyed house, a transitional shelter
of 200 square feet was built, complete with a zinc-aluminum
alloy roof, canvas walls over a steel frame, and a door that
locks. The family moved in at once.
“We will stay dry when the rains come,” said Disannayake,
bouncing his youngest, 2-year-old Nandan, on his knee. “We
can lock up our things, and most of all our family can have
some privacy. It’s a real home.”
“Thanks, America,” he added.
Sparsely furnished with a donated bed, sleeping mats, garments,
and some cartons containing a few recovered possessions, the
shelter home keeps the family living together. With thousands
of displaced people and the economy in disarray, this shelter
will likely be this family’s home for a year or two.
USAID is building several other shelter homes on the Dissanayakes’
property, space that they have offered to share with neighbors
who have lost everything.
These shelters are among more than 10,000 being built in
south and east Sri Lanka by USAID. A new pump connected to
the municipal water system is being built, as is a permanent
latrine.
Each structure costs $400 to erect, a process that takes
two days. But a scarcity of available land has slowed the
pace of building the temporary homes.
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