The issue of hygiene has become paramount now that floodwater has receded in the downpour-hit Mabi district of Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture.<\/b>
\nThe issue of hygiene has become paramount now that floodwater has receded in the downpour-hit Mabi district of Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture.
An estimated 46,000 houses, about half of the total in the district, were deluged after a river embankment collapsed last weekend. With the floodwater having receded, the houses are now caked in dried mud and the air filled with dust raised by passing traffic. \u00ab\u00a0I can’t do without a mask, due to the dust,\u00a0\u00bb said Hisashi Nakada, 80, during work to remove over 10 centimeters of mud and sand deposited in his home by the flood. \u00ab\u00a0I’m exhausted,\u00a0\u00bb he said as he worked away in the scorching heat. Besides the dust, the stench of piles of rotten disaster waste fills the air. Local health authorities urge residents to keep their hands, which can be contaminated by bacteria, away from their mouths and eyes.<\/p>\n