Water, Sanitation & Hygiene: First Response in Conflicts & Natural Disasters

Mar 21, 2018 | Sanjay Wijesekera
View Original

When disaster strikes, or conflict rages, families soon discover their most urgent need – water. In such precarious situations, access is usually limited or non-existent, and children and their families are forced to put themselves in further danger in the quest for water.
 During such times, water and sanitation experts are often the first responders to communities affected by conflict and natural disasters. They work to ensure safe access to water, which paves the way for other vital interventions such as health, nutrition, education and protection. As a young engineer, I was deployed by an international aid agency to Rwanda in 1994 in the aftermath of the civil war and horrific genocide. I arrived in Kibeho in the wake of suffering and great loss: shallow graves on roadsides; blood-stained walls in the local church; the unmistakable smell of rotting flesh.