The World Health Organization (WHO) expressed its concern on Tuesday that epidemics may spread to quake- and trunami-stricken Asian countries.

David Nabarro, head of crisis operations for WHO, warned Tuesday that diarrhea, malaria and dengue may possibly spread in the disaster areas due to a lack of clean water and sanitation.

"There is certainly a chance that we could have as many dying from communicable diseases as from the tsunami," he said.

Hospitals and health services already are overwhelmed and may not be able to cope with people who fall ill with disease, Nabarro said.

The WHO is concerned most about the Aceh region in Indonesia, which is the closest to the epicenter of Sunday's earthquake and has suffered the largest number of casualties in the disaster. Nabarro said epidemics are more likely to spread in the region as armed clashes have continued in Aceh in the past years and sanitary conditions are very poor.

He also stressed that the urgency is to provide essential supplies, such as drinking water and foods, to those areas and setup shelters with sanitary facilities to prevent diseases from spreading.

(Xinhua News Agency December 29, 2004)