Saturday, June 03, 2006
Bird flu fears for quake survivors
Bird flu could threaten survivors of Indonesia’s earthquake, an aid agency warned, after finding people whose homes were destroyed staying in chicken sheds.
More than 50 people were staying Saturday in two large empty chicken coops in Pentong in Bantul district. Flies buzzed everywhere, and children played barefoot on bamboo slats encrusted with chicken droppings.
Parji, the 60-year-old owner of one of the coops, told The Associated Press that he wasn’t afraid of bird flu.
“There is a slight smell from the dung, but I look after the health of my birds. I am certain there is no bird flu here,” he said. No officials had advised them to leave, he said.
“We are concerned that people using poultry sheds as shelter are at risk from avian flu and possibly salmonella infection,” Dr. Yolanda Bayugo, health director in Indonesia for the British medical aid agency Merlin, said in a statement. She appealed for more tents for survivors.