Madagascar -- Medair is racing to supply access to safe water and hygiene to prevent the spread of disease, after Cyclone Indlala struck an already highly-vulnerable population.

In Madagascar, cyclone season always holds the potential for disaster, but seldom has this country been so repeatedly and extensively affected as it has been this year. By mid-March, tropical storms and cyclones - including Anita, Bondo, Clovis, and Favio - had battered the island, displacing thousands of people, and damaging vital crops.

On 15 March, the problem worsened significantly when Cyclone Indlala struck Madagascar with 265 kph winds, killing at least 69, and affecting more than 100'000 people in Maroantsetra District alone, which is among the three most affected with Antahala and Ambanja Districts. Serious flooding from the heavy precipitation left entire communes (villages) underwater. The executive secretary of Madagascar's disaster management agency told Reuters, "I have never seen so much damage."1

In the city of Maroantesetra, most of the open wells have been contaminated by the floods, leaving 25,000 people without access to safe water. As many as 60,000 people in Maroantsetra District are completely flooded from their homes, and are facing similar problems with access to clean water.

Flood conditions like these can rapidly lead to deadly outbreaks of diarrhoeal diseases or cholera. As a result, Medair has launched an emergency intervention to re-establish access to safe water and hygiene in the most-affected zones of Maroantsetra District.

In the past week, Medair has provided seven supply runs to the area with the help of MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) planes. Medair teams have started distributing buckets, Sur'Eau (a water treatment solution), and soaps to 7,000 families in the flooded areas. The teams are using flat-bottomed boats called pirogues to reach many of the beneficiaries.

In areas where the flooding has subsided, Medair has started disinfecting 1,200 public and private wells in Maroantsetra and in the most damaged rural communes. The Medair teams continue to race against time to prevent this disaster from developing into a deadly epidemic.

1 Reuters, 23 March 2007 : http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSL23629295._CH_.2400

In the five years Medair has been in Madagascar, it has specialised in improving water and sanitation in rural areas. Its expertise is particularly beneficial when dealing with the ongoing threats of cyclone emergencies: assisting with mitigation (how to prepare for and protect against cyclone damage), emergency response (how to re-establish access to clean water), and recovery (how to improve the situation in the rebuilding phase after a cyclone has hit).

These projects receive financial support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the French Directorate general for international co-operation and development (DGCID), and UNICEF.

Medair's life-saving activities are also dependent upon private donations. To contribute to this work, please visit www.medair.org (Madagascar section.)

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Founded in 1988, Medair is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) independent of any political, economic, social or religious authority. Its international headquarters are based in Switzerland. Its mission is exclusively humanitarian and it accomplishes its work in a spirit of dedication and solidarity, inspired by its Christian values.

Medair's objectives are to respond to suffering victims in war and disaster situations (especially those which have been forgotten or neglected) through various kinds of emergency and rehabilitative projects.

Medair employs 50 people in Switzerland, United Kingdom, Germany, France and Holland. In the field, 120 full-time expatriates help populations in difficulty, with the support of 1600 local employees.

The organisation is certified ISO 9001 at world wide level for its quality management system.