Humanitarian situation in Libya's flood areas 'critical'

Tripoli [Libya], September 21: The humanitarian situation in the flood-hit areas in eastern Libya is "quite critical at the moment" as the population still lacks access to basic needs, a Red Cross official told DPA on Wednesday.
ImeneTrabelsi, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the Near and Middle East said people which were affected by the flooding that hit eastern Libya last week still lack food, proper shelter, access to clean water, electricity and telecommunication services.
A powerful storm dubbed Daniel hit eastern cities in Libya on September 10 after earlier lashing Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey. Two dams broke in the mountains above the port of Derna, washing away large areas of the city of around 100,000 people, with thousands feared dead.
In the past few days, conflicting figures have emerged from the politically divided nation about the death toll from the floods.
The ICRC spokeswoman said that is very hard to give figures regarding the number of the dead.
"It is very important to highlight that the situation of the missing continues to be quite critical as there are estimations that there were at least 10,000 people missing and therefore chances for survivors are very slim which means that thousands of bodies are pending to be retrieved from under the rubble," she said.
The ICRC official also spoke of difficulties in reaching out and getting proper contact with ICRC teams on the ground, due to problems with the telecommunications network.
"Internet is down and phone calls are complicated," she said, adding that many roads and bridges suffered enormous damage from the floods.
Trabelsi added that the ICRC has supplied some 6,000 body bags, with another 5,000 on their way, and has also sent forensic experts.
Source: Qatar Tribune