image source, Emergency Medicine and Support Center
Rescue teams face obstacles due to the rugged topography of mountains and valleys in Terna city.
- author, Zainab is a hyena
- stock, BBC News
Although the bodies of those killed by Hurricane Daniel were decomposing, the organization had no evidence that they had serious infectious diseases, said Dr. Ahmed Suidan, the World Health Organization’s representative in Libya.
“This could happen if the death is associated with an infectious disease like cholera or Ebola,” Zoiden added in an interview with the BBC.
The reports came as fears began to loom on the horizon that the piles of bodies could fuel the spread of disease in Derna, one of the Libyan cities worst hit by the cyclone.
In this regard, he said that any diseases or epidemics are spread only through contaminated water, adding that “there is an urgent need to provide safe drinking water and sanitation to people to avoid spreading any diseases through water or food.”
Zouiten pointed out that one of the World Health Organization’s priorities now is to provide vaccines to pregnant women and children.
He added: “We have seen in different settings that if vaccination programs are disrupted, certain diseases such as measles can re-emerge, and there are some examples where we have seen cases of polio.”
Zouiten also said that the organization’s team will travel on Tuesday to the city of Terna, where some hospitals are no longer in service due to shortages of drugs and medical equipment.
“So, we will now bring this medicine with us to distribute to many centers and have some mobile clinics to go to other areas,” he added.
Mixing drinking water with sewage
image source, Dr. Al-Sarruq al-Zaidi
Almost a week later, many bodies are still rotting.
Terna residents suffer from lack of medical facilities and clean water.
In this regard, Malek Morsi, the official spokesman for the Emergency and Support Center of the Libyan Ministry of Health, told the BBC that sewage mixed with underground water wells in the city of Derna relied on underground water wells as a source. water.”
Al-Sarrouq al-Zaidi, a member of the Supreme Committee for Crisis Management, told the BBC from inside the city of Derna: “We have actually started taking samples of the wells to ensure the safety of the water. . This issue is one of the priorities. Alternative sources are bringing in water treatment units to provide water supply.
Civil society organizations have started providing clean drinking water to cyclone-affected people. Omar al-Tabal, head of the Libyan Youth Hostels Association’s relief and humanitarian work team, told the BBC: “In the first hour we entered Derna, we saw a huge lack of drinking water. , we worked to provide that water. So far we have distributed more than twenty thousand water boxes through the relief aid committee of the association.
Nearly a week after the storm hit, the challenges facing rescuers are mounting. Malek Morsi, the official spokesman for the Libyan Ministry of Health’s Emergencies and Support Center, said there were obstacles to the work of rescue teams, such as logistical support and opening corridors for rescue teams to enter amid the spread of bodies. In addition to the rugged geography of the hills and valleys in Terna City.
Now we use two masks instead of one
image source, Emergency Medicine and Support Center
The sea is still throwing up bodies, said Major Fathi Muqeib al-Karimi, head of the National Security Commission’s department in the city of Derna.
Major Fathi Muqeib al-Karimi, head of the National Security Commission’s department in Terna, says: “We dug up the bodies and the bodies have been there for a week, and they are very decomposed.” But most of the bodies were in the sea, and the majority of the people tried to escape the flood to the sea, which was not possible, according to Al-Karimi, who was still vomiting corpses.
Al-Quraimi added to the BBC: “We received a lot of help from countries, but the crisis is big and there is almost a city under the sea.”
Regarding procedures for sterilizing corpses, the head of the National Security Commission Department in Terna says, “If we find a corpse under the rubble, we clean it well and put it in bags, of course we have gloves and disinfectants. , but the smell of the corpses became too much… and so we started using two masks instead of one. “
Dr. Al-Jarooq Al-Zaidi, a member of the Supreme Committee for Crisis Management from inside Terna, refutes the spread of the epidemics in the city of Terna on social media: “There are no epidemics so far. and there are no signs of an outbreak of an epidemic,” says a campaign to vaccinate citizens and medical workers. Also people who handle dead bodies directly.
Al-Zaidi adds: “From the first hour of the disaster, we set up an emergency committee headed by Dr. Adnan Abdel Jalil, Minister of Health of the Libyan Government, and considered all possibilities and all scenarios, including the spread. Epidemics and evacuation plans for citizens in the event of an epidemic.
image source, Dr. Al-Sarruq al-Zaidi
Dr. Al-Sarrouq Al-Zaidi, a member of the Supreme Committee for Crisis Management in Derna city, denied that the pile-up of corpses was causing the epidemic to spread in the city.
‘We don’t expect an epidemic in Terna’
Following the fear of epidemics spreading into the city of Derna, on Tuesday, a team of consultants from the College of Public Health in Benazi arrived in the city to begin conducting a comprehensive study to analyze and assess natural disasters and assess its quality. Drinking water, food security and nutrition.
Dr. Randa Al-Amrouni, dean of the Faculty of Public Health of Benghazi University, the head of the committee, says: “We have experts in the epidemic and reducing its spread. The situation will be assessed and direct solutions will be developed. The same plan will be set, as well as instructions, including complete sterilization.”
Al-Amrouni added to the BBC: “As public health experts, we did not expect an epidemic in the city of Derna. Some rescue groups have provided us with some information that does not suggest any spread of infection, as the bodies are healthy and have not suffered any injuries.
Hurricane Daniel wreaks havoc in eastern Libya. The cyclone washed away entire residential areas of the city of Terna, and the death toll as a result of the floods was appalling and estimated in the thousands.
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