Health Minister K.K. Shylaja has warned that there can be an outbreak of disease in the aftermath of Cyclone Ockhi, and that the Health Department was working provide safe drinking water to people.
As many as seven camps in the West Kochi area, including those in Chellanam and Vypeen, had around 4,000 people in the last two days when the cyclone hit the coastline. Now, there are 2,903 people from 727 families in the camps, as many have returned since the rain and storm subsided, the Minister said.
A major issue that people may face is the unavailability of clean water. Water from the sea has invaded houses, damaging seven of them completely and 369 partially. In some areas, water has spilled over septic tanks, and some of them have burst too.
The possibility of water-borne disease outbreak is not ruled out, even as health officials and local health workers are working hard to provide potable water to people. According to Health Department officials, the ground water table being high, water will seep down rather slowly. As the ground water has not been contaminated, superchlorination of water bodies is the sole way to keep the public safe from diseases, said P.N. Sreenivasan, District Health Officer.
As an additional measure, health officials will be checking chlorine content in water available for people using chloroscope.
Superchlorination requires mixing of 5 gm of chlorine in 1,000 litres of water. Moreover, bleaching powder has to be sprayed on sludge from septic tanks.
If rain does not subside, water will have to be chlorinated every day. In the absence of rain, chlorination has to be done once in 15 days till the ground water level gets back to normal, said Mr. Sreenivasan.
Meanwhile, the Health Department will help people superchlorinate waterbodies. Also, people have been advised to use water supplied by the Kerala Water Authority and water tankers that transport potable water.
List sent
In response to queries by District Collector K. Mohammed Y. Safirullah, the Maharashtra government has sent a list of 809 people who have taken shelter at Devgad Port. Among them, 57 are from Kerala.
