ISLAMABAD, Nov 16: Incinerators are urgently needed for proper hospital and solid waste management in the earthquake- affected areas. This was observed during a meeting between United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) damage assessment team and federal environment minister Maj (retired) Tahir Iqbal, here on Wednesday.

The UNEP team, which is conducting damage assessment in the earthquake affected areas, has already submitted its preliminary report to the ministry.

Jurg Zaugg, Jon Anstey and Leif Jonsson of UNEP waste management team briefed the minister about the assessment carried out by the team and the minimum requirements of waste management in the devastated region.

They informed the minister that they had circulated “Do and Don’t” instructions for health care management.

They said the local governments of Bagh and Balakot had adequate resources for proper management of waste not only in towns but also in tented villages.

However, there are issues of waste collection and final disposal during relief and reconstruction phases.

Indiscriminate burning of solid waste and hospital waste posed great danger to the health of people, the experts said, asserting that proper sites for disposing wastes and hygiene promotion were crucial issues.

They have already conducted master trainer courses at Mansehra for mass awareness about hygiene and hoped to secure more funds from Geneva for the local government authorities in the affected areas which lack vehicles for transporting municipal waste.

Environment Minister Tahir Iqbal suggested that they should recommend and explore the possibility of providing incinerators for disposing the waste in these areas. The team said it had not yet done that.

The minister told the team that three issues had to be tackled — hospital waste disposal, solid waste management and removal of debris. He invited the experts to advise on use of shredders or crushing machines for this purpose.

The team informed the minister that International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had proper incinerators but hospitals in the affected areas pursued worst practices.

They must arrange separate disposal of infectious waste. It should also be ensured that the wastes are not disposed of by indiscriminate burning, piling up on river banks or keeping them open.

The minister said he was interested in evaluation of quantity of debris, selection of sites for disposal of the waste and expert advice on recycling and reuse of material. He hoped the experts would recommend to Geneva to provide technical support and incinerators for disposal of the waste.