Harare water supply cut as cholera spreads

HARARE, Zimbabwe, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Water supplies were cut to residents of Harare as Zimbabwean authorities tried to cope with a quickly worsening cholera epidemic, observers said.

The Zimbabwe National Water Authority shut down pumps in the capital after the utility ran out of purifying chemicals, and the number of cholera cases reached 11,000 while an anthrax outbreak was spreading in the countryside, The Times of London reported Tuesday.

The health and water crises came as hundreds of off-duty soldiers went on the rampage in Harare, frustrated at not being able to draw cash from banks, the newspaper said.

Zimbabwe Health Minister David Parirenyatwa urged Zimbabweans to stop shaking hands to avoid spreading disease, and restaurants provided buckets of water for hand-washing and flushing. The Times said Harare's four-star Jameson Hotel stopped taking guests and other hotels closed as the cholera epidemic worsened.

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, urged President Robert Mugabe to accept international humanitarian help, telling reporters, "The country is reaching a catastrophic level, in terms of food, health delivery, education. Everything seems to be collapsing around us."