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| World Health Organisation building south face, Geneva (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The World Health Organisation (WHO) yesterday urged governments to build medical facilities that can withstand earthquakes and other disasters. The United Nations agency is dedicating World Health Day today to the issue, as natural and man-made disasters increase worldwide.
“In disasters and emergencies, health facilities are crucial to survival,” said Mr Shin Young Soo, the WHO regional director for the Western Pacific region in a statement.
“Health facilities must be structurally-resilient, well-equipped and staffed, with health workers who are properly trained to respond.”
The WHO said the Western Pacific region was particularly vulnerable to calamities, citing tropical cyclones, floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
Last year’s devastating earthquake in China destroyed or damaged over half of Sichuan province’s 6,800 hospitals, forcing tens of thousands of people to seek treatment elsewhere.
Also last year, Typhoon Fengshen damaged or destroyed 89 hospitals and health facilities in the Philippines. A 2007 tsunami damaged many health facilities in the Solomon Islands, exposing survivors to asbestos.
– AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
From myPaper, My News, World
Tuesday, 07-April-2009
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