Drought and water shortages in the Pacific

Marshall Islands face acute water shortage

Australia and US offer desalination and reverse-osmosis units as severe drought worsens in Pacific archipelago

The Marshall Islands have declared a state of disaster in the north of the archipelago. Photograph: Doug Wilson/Corbis

the Guardian,

10 May, 2013

About 6,000 people who live on the remote Marshall Islands in the Pacific are facing an acute shortage of fresh water as a severe drought worsens.

A state of disaster was declared in the north. Australia announced it would provide AU$100,000 (£65,335) for emergency desalination units. The US has also donated several reverse-osmosis machines, which convert salt water into fresh water.

There is no end in sight to the drought, with fine weather forecast for at least the next 10 days. The drought has also affected the food supply, hitting crops such as breadfruit, bananas and taro.

Casten Nemra, who chairs the national disaster committee, said many large families were surviving on as little as 4.5 litres of water a day.

"It's an increasingly desperate situation out there," he said. "The dry season should have ended six weeks ago."

He said there had been no deaths recorded but there has been an increase in diseases including conjunctivitis and diarrhoea. The government has deployed ships carrying food, water and medical supplies to the affected islands, he added.

The Marshall Islands are home to about 70,000 people who live on far-flung atolls and islands. The capital Majuro, home to much of the population, has not been as badly affected by the drought.

Radio New Zealand about three days after the Guardian