Medical teams, meanwhile, were immunizing rescuers against typhoid and warning of health dangers for the masses of homeless, crowded into parks or along roadsides in the sweltering heat. The smell of decay pervaded flattened towns like Adapazari, where at least 1,000 people died. Smashed sewage lines and the thousands of homeless living on the streets compounded the risk of cholera or other diseases spreading. Vomiting and diarrhoea started showing up last night, especially among children and the elderly. Health services were in a shambles, despite the arrival of the Israeli medical team, which set up across the road from the quake-damaged state hospital.
Nobody knows what they're doing here.
We've got all the aid we need but no one to supervise it. Everything is a shambles. One Israeli, Colonel Giorah Martonovits, noted the lack of running water. Doctors said the tens of thousands with cuts or other open wounds, suffered in the quake or while trying to rescue others, were at special risk of infection from unsanitary conditions. The prime minister's crisis office said medical teams had begun immunising rescue workers against typhoid, while others were picking up rubbish, spraying disinfectants and distributing chlorine tablets to be used for purifying water.