PESHAWAR: Acute water shortage hits quake zone: IUCN: Survivors without bath for months
By Our Correspondent
PESHAWAR, May 19: The problem of water shortage is common in earthquake-hit areas and people desperately need water for simple day-to-day needs like drinking, bathing and sanitation, an IUCN study says.
“(Eight months after the earthquake) people are demanding water for drinking, bathing and other purposes. Our observation is that water systems have collapsed and landslides have contaminated rural water sources,” it said.
The report said that the problem would become more acute as time progresses.
“Polluted water is causing many diseases”, it said. The study was conducted in March in which 40 women and 40 children were interviewed.
The report said that all previous indigenous water sources had been destroyed and dispersed in the earthquake.
According to the report, about 2.3 million persons needed food security, adding that children were living in very unhygienic conditions, making them more vulnerable to various diseases.
The report criticised the lack of water heating system in camps for survivors and said that most people had not been able to take a bath for months. It also said that the people in earthquake zone needed 160,000 washrooms on immediate basis.
TEACHERS PROTEST: All-Teachers Association Pakistan on Friday staged a rally to condemn the runaway inflation and called for an increase in their salaries, pensions and other perks and privileges.
The teachers’ demands also included better scales and incentives for teachers of all cadres.
They urged the government to take steps to controll inflation. They dispersed peacefully after the protest.
Earlier, they held a protest meeting attended by provincial president of the association Shamshad Khan, general secretary Khairullah Hawari, Abdul Samad Marwat, Mohammad Ashraf, Mohammad Hussain Azad, Mian Mohammad
Sajid, Haji Jalal Mayar, Ijazul Hassan, Amjad Ali, Sultan Rome, Abdus Sattar Hoti, Ghulam Rabbani, Khan Malook, Siraj Chamkani, Hukam Khan and Mureed Khan addressed the protesters.
They warned that if their demands were not met in the next budget, teachers from all over the country would stage a sit-in in Islamabad, adding that they would also not hesitate from courting arrest.
