International aid workers report chaotic conditions in Libya. After the flood, the groundwater was contaminated by corpses, among other things, the Ministry of Health also warned. Some children are already sick.
After the devastating floods in eastern Libya, aid organizations have warned of the growing risk of spreading diseases. International aid workers speak of a “catastrophic humanitarian situation” and chaotic conditions in the partially destroyed city of Darna in the east of the North African country.
“Coordination of aid is urgently needed,” reported the organization Doctors Without Borders on Friday evening. Your first emergency aid team has been on site since Thursday. The survivors now urgently need shelter, food and basic medical care because of concerns about cholera and a lack of clean water, said UN emergency coordinator Martin Griffiths in Geneva.
According to the Arab News newspaper, the Ministry of Health in the Libyan capital Tripoli in the west of the country warned that there was groundwater in Darna that was contaminated with corpses, animal carcasses, garbage and chemical substances. “We urge people not to go near the wells in Darna,” Health Minister Ibrahim Al-Arabi was quoted as saying.
Children become ill from contaminated water
In Darna, children have already become ill from contaminated water, the head of the National Center for Disease Control told the Al-Wasat news site on Friday. The 55 children came from families that were displaced by the destructive floods, it was said.
In the coastal city, drinking water mixed with wastewater. “After a disaster like this, we are really worried about diseases spreading through contaminated drinking water,” said MSF medical operations coordinator Manoelle Carton. The extent of the problem is still difficult to estimate. The situation in the disaster area remained unclear. There are many volunteers from abroad and within the country, “but there are too many, it becomes chaotic,” said Carton.
“Needs are greater than the organization’s capabilities”
There was a lack of agreement, said the head of operations at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. “The humanitarian situation in Libya is catastrophic. The needs are greater than the capabilities of all international organizations and local authorities working in Libya,” said the spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Libya, Bashir Omar, to the dpa news agency.
Libya is effectively divided with two hostile governments in the west and in the east of the country. The two camps provide sometimes contradictory information on the disaster situation. The rivalry makes it difficult to coordinate relief efforts. Nevertheless, there are also aid deliveries from the west of the country: a plane carrying medical equipment and food took off from the capital Tripoli on Friday.
decomposition and severity identification
The search is also continuing for victims under rubble, on the coast and in the sea. The rescue was accelerated by the arrival of international helpers, said a member of a military-medical convoy in Darna, Hisham al-Malti. Nevertheless, bodies would decompose quickly after the days that had already passed since the floods. Because the deceased are buried quickly, identification of the victims is neglected, making it difficult to arrive at a conclusive and reliable death toll.
There were still contradictory information about the number of deaths. Up to 20,000 deaths are feared in hard-hit Darna.