AHMEDABAD, July 4: Health officials on Monday sounded an alert against possible epidemics in India’s rain-hit Gujarat state, where floods have affected some 25 million people, as relief teams rushed clean water, food and medicine to hardest-hit areas. More than 570 medical and paramilitary teams have been dispatched to parts of central and southern Gujarat in an attempt to keep waterborne diseases at bay, said Ashok Bhatt, Gujarat state law minister coordinating relief efforts.

Ninety tons of relief material — including food, medicines and water packets — had been dropped in the western state in 50 sorties by air force helicopters taking advantage of a lull in the heavy rains, Bhatt said.

Some 54 boats shifted people from the flood-devastated districts of Anand, Vadodara and Nadiad to safer areas.

The state government has opened 572 relief camps in six districts to house those whose homes have been inundated, Bhatt added.

D. Thara, a senior state official, said municipal authorities in the main city of Ahmedabad were destroying all garbage and carcases of animals to help prevent epidemics.

Chlorine-treated water and chlorine tablets were being distributed to people and municipal workers were spraying waterlogged localities to kill mosquitoes, she said.

“We are aiming to keep the immunity of the people living in waterlogged areas up so that they do not contract diseases,” she said.

Thara said the state health ministry had called in non-governmental groups to help relief efforts.

The state-wide death toll crept up to 135 with the recovery of three more bodies in Ahmedabad, the Gujarat state revenue department said. Many victims were washed away. Others were crushed when portions of buildings collapsed or were buried in mudslides.—AFP