Uttarakhand: Fears of epidemic rise as bodies pile up

NEW DELHI: Fears of hundreds of rotting bodies and carcasses triggering an epidemic has intensified among rescue workers and local people in Uttarakhand over the past few days.
At least a few local volunteers who have been to remote corners of the affected stretch are speaking of hundreds of bodies, of both human beings and animals, rotting in the mountains, rivers and even on trees.
"The rescue and relief operations are purely focused on taking to safety those who are alive, as well as to reach assistance to them. Bodies are not at all a focus of the ongoing operations. It is an impossible mission," a senior military officer involved in the operations said.
A team of naval divers, presently on standby in Rishikesh, as well as local volunteers could be deployed for fishing out bodies at a later stage. But for now, the focus is purely on saving as many people as possible, officials said.
Rajeev Chauhan, a local volunteer, said there were dead bodies all the way, and they were beginning to rot. "It is not just the bodies of human beings, but also of animals. They are beginning to rot," he said, expressing concern about an epidemic breaking out.
Another local volunteer involved in rescue and relief operations in Gaurikund said they had seen over thousand bodies, and almost an equal number of carcasses of animals.
Many volunteers complained that the local administration has failed miserably in responding to the calamity. All of them, however, praised paramilitary and military personnel.
"They have yet not been able to extricate bodies from even the temple in Kedarnath," one of them complained about the local administration.
Rescue workers are also reporting that many of the bodies are floating in the rivers and streams in the area.
While several scientific studies have shown that rotting bodies only hold a minimum risk of causing an epidemic, data also shows that they could lead to contamination of water sources, and consequent spread of gastroenteritis. Close contact between the bodies and rescue workers could also result in chronic infectious hazards such as Hepatitis B and C viruses, HIV, tuberculosis etc being transmitted to people around.
Even as the government is preparing to hold the first mass funeral in the next few days, most volunteers are not known to use proper hygiene standards in the disaster zone, risking further the possibility of spread of contagious diseases.