Two weeks after Cyclone Nargis, aid agencies warn that Burma (also known as Myanmar) stands on the edge of a “public health catastrophe.” Lack of access to safe water and sanitation, largely as a result of delays in mobilising a sufficient emergency response, means that the risk of epidemics of waterborne diseases is high.

More than 100 000 people are thought to have died as a direct result of the cyclone. Aid workers now fear a second wave of deaths from disease. Although the government has begun to ease its previous restrictions on aid workers and supplies entering the country, people who are experienced in natural disasters warn …