2001 Assessment teams are continually providing updated information on the health situation in El Salvador. Temporary clinics are being set up to in several areas to accomodate the fact that over 1300 beds have been rendered unusable by damages caused by the earthquake. A number of medical and rescue teams are on the spot already - no more are needed. The real issue hence is not the number of injured due to the earthquake but rather how to reactivate the hospital network in order to deal with a country that continues to have deliveries or surgery. Shelter has been the most critical and growing issue in the last two days.
Numbers vary greatly depending on the source of information and the time of day.
Water and food supply is not a real issue as a number of measures have already been taken. However food handling and preservation, latrines and solid waste disposal are real issues that are being handled by groups of engineers from several organizations. This situation is expected to last weeks and months before even a temporary solution will be provided to the homeless population. This has lead some to advise the population, incorrectly, to dispose quickly of dead bodies because they represent a threat to public health. It is a well known fact that people dying in those conditions are not the cause of epidemics when basic rules of hygiene in corpse preservation are followed .