As of: 07/29/2021 9:38 a.m.
The people in the Ahrweiler district thought of the victims of the flood disaster with the chimes of bells and ten minutes of silence. Medical officers warn of insufficient supply and the risk of epidemics.
For the victims and those affected by the flood, there was a ten-minute moment of silence in the Ahrweiler district in Rhineland-Palatinate. District Administrator Jürgen Pföhler had asked all citizens of the district to pause at 7.50 p.m. in the evening and commemorate the victims of the disaster. The churches were asked to accompany the memorial by ringing the church bells.
The flood of July 14th hit the Ahr valley particularly badly. At least 134 people died, 73 are still missing.
Health of the population “massively threatened”
Even two weeks after the devastating floods in Rhineland-Palatinate, medical officers criticize significant shortcomings in basic medical care in the flood areas.
The situation is “still frightening” and there is a risk of epidemics in the affected regions, said the chairwoman of the Federal Association of Doctors of the Public Health Service, Ute Teichert, the newspapers of the Funke media group. The health of the population in the disaster areas is “massively threatened because the infrastructure is not working”. Among other things, hospitals and practices were destroyed in some places.
Teichert, who headed the health department in the flood-affected district of Ahrweiler until 2012, explained that many people would have to get by without urgently needed medication. This is a big problem, especially for people with diseases such as diabetes or heart disease, the newspaper report said. Now it is important to organize mobile medical units and bring them to the towns.
“Reich citizens” and “lateral thinkers” hinder auxiliary work
The federal police also sent the government an alarming report on the situation in the flood areas in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate. According to a report in the “Bild” newspaper, “supplying the population as a whole is rated as problematic”. Many of those affected are “severely traumatized” and “acceptance of the emergency services is falling steadily”.
In Rhineland-Palatinate, according to the report, “Reich citizens in police-like uniforms” hinder the relief work, as quoted by the “Bild” newspaper. The people tried to “give emergency services relocation” – and thus to hinder the clean-up work.
Previously, there had already been reports that helpers were insulted or thrown at rubbish in the disaster areas, including by so-called lateral thinkers.