The WHO and other aid groups warn that mass grave burials to deal with flood deaths could cause risks of mental distress, cholera, and other health risks.
"We should be afraid of an epidemic," 60-year-old Nouri Mohamed said, at a bakery offering loaves for free.The UN health agency together with the ICRC and International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies called for burials to be managed better.
The bodies of victims of trauma from natural disasters "almost never" posed a health threat, the statement said, unless they were in or near fresh water supplies since corpses may leak excrement."You've got a lot of standing water. It doesn't mean the bodies pose a risk, but it does mean that the water itself is contaminated by everything," said Dr Margaret Harris, a spokeswoman for WHO.
"I've heard from my team that there are mass graves where rescue workers were appealing: 'Don't bring us food, don't bring us water, bring us body bags'," the NRC's Ahmed Bayram said.The ICRC sent a cargo flight to Benghazi, eastern Libya's largest city, on Friday with 5,000 body bags. "When I gathered the data, I found a number of problems in the Derna Valley: in the cracks present in the dams, the amount of rainfall and repeated floods," he told Reuters.
"A lot of people are responsible for this. The dam wasn't fixed, so now it's a disaster," said Alwad Alshawly, an English teacher who had spent three days burying bodies as a rescue volunteer, in an emotional video uploaded to the internet.A UN report found that 1,000 bodies had been buried in mass graves on Monday, just one day after the flooding.
This made it impossible for repair work to be carried out, according to local officials who spoke to Reuters.Instructions: Use left and right arrow keys to control image transitionSatellite images show the lower Wadi Derna dam before / after the flood.
Philippines Latest News, Philippines Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Experts blame climate change for devastating Libya floodingThe death toll in Libya continues to rise to devastating heights, with the Red Crescent reporting more than 11,300 fatalities. Experts say that the Mediterranean storm that dumped torrential rain on the Libyan coast is the latest extreme weather event to carry some of the hallmarks of climate…
Read more »
Libyans in Australia await news of relatives after Derna tragedyAs the death toll climbs from the disaster that's ripped through the heart of the Libyan port city Derna, Libyans in Australia anxiously await news of relatives.
Read more »
How political chaos and collapsed dams created the perfect storm in DernaAs the death toll is expected to rise in Libya's disastrous floods, Derna has been hit harder than any other city. Here's how crumbling infrastructure and a decade of political chaos left the region reeling.
Read more »
Libyan death toll soars to 11,300 after flooding in coastal city of DernaA UN official said on Thursday that most casualties could have been avoided if the war-torn country could have issued weather warnings.
Read more »
Libyan death toll soars to 11,300 after flooding in coastal city of DernaA UN official said on Thursday that most casualties could have been avoided if the war-torn country could have issued weather warnings.
Read more »