Mon­soon rains are about to come to Sri Lanka, and for those who are in dis­place­ment camps, the rains could cause dis­eases. World Vision is con­cerned about the poor san­i­ta­tion at the camps that could cre­ate rivers of sewage run­ning through the camps.

From this World Vision press release, writer Rachel Wolff receives com­ments from work­ers in the country.

“We are very wor­ried about the out­break of dis­eases,” said Suresh Bartlett, World Vision’s national direc­tor in Sri Lanka. “When the rains come in two weeks or so I can’t imag­ine what con­di­tions will be like due to the lack of any proper drainage and toi­let system.”

The san­i­ta­tion facil­i­ties in the largest camps where most of the dis­placed are liv­ing are woe­fully inad­e­quate and at least 11,500 more latrines are needed in the camps to com­ply with inter­na­tional min­i­mum stan­dards. With the mon­soon rains expected to arrive within the next two weeks, at least 2,500 are needed imme­di­ately to meet even the most basic needs and to pre­vent a poten­tial health crisis.

Unsafe drink­ing water and inad­e­quate san­i­ta­tion facil­i­ties give rise to water­borne dis­eases such as diar­rhea and cholera as well as malaria and dengue fever, accord­ing to World Vision health experts. Most fatal­i­ties occur in young children.

“Camps fur­ther north in Jaffna have already expe­ri­enced rains and there we have seen peo­ple try­ing to keep their things dry in over­turned buck­ets and hang­ing their babies in saris to keep them off the ground and out of flood waters, “ said Bartlett.

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