UN agencies bring aid to flood-hit western India

United Nations agencies are providing help to states in western India where unprecedented heavy rains and flooding have killed some 1,000 people, destroyed 10,000 houses, damaged hundreds of thousands of hectares of crops lands and drowned 15,000 sheep and goats.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has mobilized 300,000 packets of oral re-hydration salts (ORS) and 1 million chlorine tablets and will be procuring 5,000 intravenous Ringer solution for Maharashtra state.

“UNICEF’s focus is to make sure not even a single life is lost to waterborne diseases,” Emergency Programme Officer Vinod Menon said, noting that such diseases as well dehydration often occur during flooding.

The UN World Health Organization (WHO) emergency medical relief team is in touch with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and State Relief and Rehabilitation Department, while UNDP staff, under the Disaster Risk Management (DRM) programme, are assisting in state and district emergency information response coordination.

In Gujarat state, UNICEF is providing assistance to the state government by supplying ORS packets and chlorine tablets, while WHO staff have been monitoring health and sanitation conditions in affected districts.