As only parts of countries are affected, it is recommended to buy the animals locally, in order to minimize the risks of importing diseases and to make sure the animals are well-adjusted to the local surroundings. Wherever possible, purchased animals should be young breeding stock, well grown for their age, physically inspected for signs of illness or abnormalities, provided with prophylactic cover (deworming, vaccination, antibiotics) based on local veterinary advice, and any stress in transportation should be kept to a minimum.

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Keeping farm animals in urban areas poses both environmental and human health risks and the practice should not be encouraged. Any rebuilding of existing or new towns should take the opportunity to explore introducing by-laws that either restrict or prohibit keeping farm livestock in urban environments.

It is also important to the rapid spread of zoonotic diseases. In peri urban areas it depends on the control measures that could be established for control of zoonotic diseases, on the importance of animal production for urban consumption and for small holders livelihoods.

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Food for large numbers of people under difficult conditions involves logistic difficulties and calls for a high degree of planning to minimize microbiological risks. Shelf-life and need for refrigeration or other special storage conditions of foods should be a consideration in planning the operation.

If possible, perishable foods should be refrigerated. If refrigeration is not available, these foods need to be kept in a cool a place out of direct sunlight and consumed quickly. Under emergency or difficult conditions and high ambient temperatures foods can have a higher level of microorganisms and so should be cooked for longer than normal to minimize the risk while also maintaining acceptable organoleptic qualities for consumption.

Perishable foods that have been left at ambient temperature for prolonged periods may contain pre-formed, heat stable toxins that are not eliminated by cooking. Slaughterhouses and slaughter slabs should have proper meat inspection carried out so as to minimize the transmission of zoonotic diseases such us cysticercosis and tuberculosis.

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Thorough hand washing before and during food preparation especially after using the toilet, handling raw food or waste is critical. Soap, sanitizer and clean water should be available for hand washing at convenient locations. Ensure food preparation area is limited to designated food handlers (whose health status has been checked).

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Rehabilitation of Animal Health Services:
Firstly it is important to rehabilitate Veterinary Services as well as livestock infrastructures in order to improve animal disease surveillance, early warning and early reaction systems to prevent the spread of animal diseases. Diseases known to be endemic in the tsunami affected area are

i) Poultry: Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza and Newcastle virus disease
ii) Pigs: Classical swine Fever, FMD, Nipah virus, Japanese encephalitis
iii) Sheep and goats: PPR, pasteurellosis
iv) Cattle: PPR (in India), Hemorrhagic septicaemia and FMD.

They should be monitored and where appropriate animal disease control procedures should be implemented to curb the spread of transboundary and other animal diseases.In specific instances, restocking should be considered after going through the necessary quarantine period.

Animal Health Care Capacities (private):
Support to animal health care capacities will mainly involve the private sector. Animal disease control for restocking and maintaining animals will address the main following activities:

* Vaccination against i)Poultry: Newcastle virus Disease, b)Pigs: Classical swine fever and Pasteurellosis c) Small ruminants: PPR, pasteurellosis and clostridial diseases, d) Cattle: PPR (in India), Hemorrhagic septicaemia, clostridial diseases and anthrax

* Anthelmintic treatment campaigns

Adequate supplies of vital veterinary medicines, food and water, can make the difference between life and death for animals in the aftermath of the disaster.

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The animal health service and in particular the Official Veterinary Public Health authorities should be restored immediately to provide the minimum basis for rational control of zoonoses and food borne diseases. In addition, infrastructure such as safe water supplies, abattoirs, and markets must be rehabilitated. Measures to strengthen sanitation infrastructure and access to veterinary and medical care should be implemented immediately.

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It is important to include all types of farm animals (poultry, sheep, goats, pigs, cattle and buffalo) in any assessment. Also, there are different types of production systems that need to be taken into account. Many rural/coastal households will have kept a few 'backyard' livestock but there may also have been more commercial or semi-commercial enterprises affected. Animal shelters, including any stored feed, will have been destroyed by the direct impact of the Tsunami. There might also be indirect consequences that need to be taken into account such as the loss of local support services (extension and veterinary services) feed storage and milling, AI centres and product processing facilities i.e. milk collection centres. There might also be longer-term damage to the primary source of feed supplies due to salination etc. which would need to be assessed.

The information required from assessments to assist the rehabilitation programme would include:

• the number and type of households/enterprises keeping livestock that were affected

• an estimation of the loss animals and feed supplies

• an estimation of economic production losses

• damage to buildings and infrastructure

• the current situation with regard to shelter, feed supply, health of the remaining animals, and any animal welfare issues

• an assessment of the impact on ancillary goods and services

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Yes, there is a risk of spread of infectious and parasitic diseases, including zoonotic diseases (common to animals and humans) such as rabies and Avian Influenza.

Concerning Avian Influenza, until present there have been no confirmed outbreaks of this disease associated with the tsunami crisis. However, in view of the prevailing circumstances with the rapid movement of poultry associated with people movement, the lack of sanitation and housing and the breakdown of surveillance systems there is a high potential of risk for outbreaks of this disease.

The immediate reestablishment of animal disease surveillance through the rehabilitation of the Veterinary Services, will allow early detection and early reaction to potential outbreaks of avian influenza. This will permit the adoption of counter epizootic measures such as vaccination and disease awareness campaigns to prevent the spread of avian influenza infections.

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Rabies is endemic in the region affected by the tsunami. An increase in stray animals directly increases the chance of human to animal contact. Thus there is more possibility of dog bites with the consequence of an increase in rabies incidences. The immediate control of dog movements and the vaccination and identification of dogs and awareness campaign on preventive measures against rabies is highly recommended. Dog bites should be immediately reported to the veterinary and medical services for prompt attention. Suspected dogs should be quarantined for a minimum of 10 days, under the proper veterinary observation.

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Local government specialists of agriculture and livestock are in the best position to provide accurate reports on the situation in any particular location. Local Emergency Coordination Committees should also have information regarding the relevant on-going damage and needs assessments.

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Rehabilitation of the livestock sector is likely to include:

• Provision of appropriate materials to reconstruct shelters, feed stores etc, that have been destroyed. There might be an opportunity to improve the design and construction of these buildings.

• Restocking can be supported once suitable shelter is available. It is important that any restocking introduces animals/birds that are appropriate and well-adapted to the particular production system. In most cases, it is expected that animals/birds for restocking will be available from the hinterland (areas inland from the coast) and it is unlikely that any major importation of stock will be required.

• Provision of adequate feed supplies for the remaining and reintroduced animals. Immediate needs for compound (ready mixed and balanced rations) is probably available nationally and it can be procured locally. It is important that any support involves, and not disrupts, the private sector supply chain. There may also be longer-term requirements in terms of seeds, and fertilizer to re-establish pastures and fodder crops.

• Local veterinary services might need material assistance to combat the outbreak of infectious diseases, especially zoonoses - those diseases that can affect humans.

• The needs of individual households and communities will vary. It is important that any support is targeted at what they really need and want, and not necessarily what they will accept if offered. A menu of appropriate interventions should be available from which beneficiaries can choose which would best suit their needs best.

• Direct or in-direct (credit) assistance will also be required to re-establish the commercial and semi-commercial enterprises that supply the urban and tourist markets.

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Yes, but there is still little information concerning the impact of the Tsunami on domestic farm animals. The focus so far has been on concentrated on meeting the immediate humanitarian needs of the affected people. However, from experience elsewhere, we would expect that there has been considerable destruction to buildings that housed animals - these are usually made from local materials and not that robust. As of yet, it is not clear if there were any more commercial livestock farms that were damaged in the affected areas.

Certainly any caged, tethered or confined animals/birds in the path of the main Tsunami would have perished. Larger animals, and those that were free-range, probably managed to escape. Initial reports, and they are very few, would indicate that farm animals have not suffered to the extent that might have been originally expected. The situation in Northern Sumatra however remains a major concern and reports are coming out indicating that over 20,000 cattle/buffalo, 20,000 small ruminants and nearly 2.5 million poultry were lost.

Any stored animal feed that was not washed away got soaked with sea water, thus it will have deteriorated and will not be fit for animal consumption. Most pastures and other sources of fibrous animal feed will most likely not have been badly affected in cases where the Tsunami passed over them and then quickly receded. More long-term damage may have occurred where pastures and fodder crops have been flooded for longer periods with stagnant salt water.

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For many of the coastal communities, keeping livestock makes an important contribution to the household economy. Livestock are important converters of waste products from the artesian fishing industry into cash and assets. Likewise, any surplus coconuts found in coastal areas are an important feed source that encourage people to keep animals.

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All animals or birds that were housed, tethered or caged in the affected areas will have been lost. The main casualties were poultry, pigs, goats, sheep and, to a lesser extent cattle and buffaloes.

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Apart from the animals that died, housing has been destroyed along stored feed. It is not known exactly, but processing facilities (feed mills, hatcheries, AI centres, and milk collection/processing centres) caught in the Tsunami might have been damaged or destroyed. In time, we expect that more detailed damage assessment reports will become available.

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Yes, the sudden movement of animals from other regions could facilitate the spread of animal diseases in the restocking localities. Also stress resulting from the catastrophe, lack of proper animal housing, consumption of contaminated water, and lack of feed, could exacerbate animal disease outbreaks.

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Tsunami affected areas are now under serious threat of disease outbreaks as a result of damaged water and sanitation systems, sea water contamination and breakdown of animal disease surveillance systems. Zoonotic diseases such as, salmonellosis, leptospirosis, anthrax, rabies, cryptosporidiosis, giardiasis, are serious potential threats.

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FAO Representatives in Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Indonesia and Myanmar will be able to provide advice and assistance. Specialised staff in FAO Headquarters and in its Regional Office in Bangkok will also help wherever possible. The internet is now a major source of information and all the major UN Agencies, including FAO, development agencies and NGOs have regularly updated sites dealing with the Tsunami disaster.

• United Nations Website:
  www.un.org/english/

• Tsunami portal of FAO:
  www.fao.org/tsunami/

• WHO - Protecting health following the asian tsunami:
  www.who.int/hac/crises/international/asia_tsunami/en/

• OIE:
  www.oie.int/eng/press/en_050106.htm

• International Disaster Information Network:
  www.humanitarian.net/idin/

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