According to the UN, while Monrovia's streets remain relatively calm, they are festering with disease. The city of 1 million plus has had no regular garbage pickup since 1996 and sanitation has become virtually non-existent. Clean water reservoirs are perilously low, with only 32 per cent of the population having access to potable water and less than 30 per cent to latrines. Most people depended on unprotected wells for water. The threat of a cholera outbreak hangs like a cloud over the city. From 25 to 31 August, over 2,000 new cases had been reported. - Adam Geibel