Red Cross: Cyclone Idai survivors face 'ticking bomb' of disease

A powerful cyclone that pummelled southern African countries earlier this month has left survivors facing “a ticking bomb” of looming disease outbreaks, the Red Cross chief warned Monday.

While aid workers have been rushing to bring emergency aid to the hundreds of thousands of affected people, the head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies stressed the urgent need to focus on hygiene, sanitation and clean water.“We are sitting on a ticking bomb,” Elhadj As Sy, IFRC secretary general told reporters in Geneva after returning from a weekend visit to Mozambique.

The United Nations has also warned that stagnant water in many areas, decomposing bodies and the lack of good sanitation in overcrowded shelters in Mozambique in particular could create breeding grounds for such diseases. But while a large-scale cholera outbreak following this kind of disaster would not be surprising, the worst could still be avoided, he said.

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