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Report
Gone 'in the blink of an eye': Aid for Libya 'won't heal psychological trauma, wounds lasting a lifetime'
FRANCE 24 English
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9/14/2023
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00:00
springing for the analysis and for more information about the operation on the ground to try to
00:04
help people in all the areas affected in Libya. Dr. Hossam El-Shekawi, Regional Director for
00:11
the Middle East and North Africa at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
00:16
Thank you very much for being with us, doctor. Basic question for you and your people on
00:20
the ground. Can you cope?
00:22
It's for people on the ground. They're doing their best. It may not be perfect, but they're
00:30
trying to cope and do their best, and this is where we come in. Your report was fantastic.
00:35
The international community is supporting the French field hospital. We have given the
00:40
Libyan Red Crescent $1 million to do local procurement from the surrounding area, which
00:46
has some supplies and water and food for the survivors and some of the local equipment
00:51
that they may need. And we're launching a $10 million also emergency appeal to scale
00:57
up the support. The picture is becoming clearer and clearer to the devastation, and certainly,
01:05
you know, we're all dealing with the Morocco earthquake, and suddenly a few days later
01:09
this happens. So all hands on deck for many humanitarians, including the Red Crosses and
01:14
Red Crescents of the world, to help them cope. I was speaking yesterday to the secretary
01:18
general of the Libyan Red Crescent, who has all their staff and volunteers now responding
01:26
to the scene. It's overwhelming, just the numbers of body bags required, the dealing
01:32
to minimise the hazards for the survivors and providing the water, the clean water,
01:39
critically, because you want to avoid contaminated water and get people sicker, is now again
01:44
a race against time as we see it.
01:47
Dr. El-Shokabi, can I just clarify that when I ask, can you cope, there's no criticism
01:53
implied in that of anybody on the ground or indeed what you're doing, because I think
01:56
most people accept what we're seeing here is an unprecedented situation. As you pointed
02:01
out, reeling from the earthquake in Morocco, then another natural disaster in Libya. The
02:07
scale of what you have to deal with here is huge.
02:11
Yes, it's overwhelming for everyone. Absolutely any country would be challenged to deal with
02:19
this. Libya has been in a 12-year civil war. It's fragmented. Its maintenance and infrastructure
02:25
have eroded, lack of maintenance and so on because of the context of a civil war. And
02:33
then you have the perfect storm with the impact, potentially of climate change, with the severe
02:38
anomalous weather, and you have this thing happen.
02:44
The solidarity coming again internationally, we see it, and it's heartwarming, but it's
02:50
not enough for the people that need us now. And it is, as I see the images that you are
02:56
showing, fantastic how things are being rolled out to get this scale up and this pipeline
03:03
as quickly as possible and as wide as possible to get to these people. This won't heal the
03:09
psychological trauma and the wounds, the psychological ones, that we know last a lifetime, these
03:16
types of events, for those who lost all of their families, all of their belongings, everything,
03:22
in the blink of an eye.
03:24
So we will be there for months and months to come, perhaps years, to help in some of
03:31
the reconstruction and rebuilding some of the vital services in terms of healthcare,
03:37
perhaps water, schools, and some shelter for those who are in perhaps the poverty categories.
03:45
This is a massive task and the things that you are outlining, if you took each one of
03:49
them individually, each would be a huge task to undertake, but put it all together and
03:54
it just represents something which I think for many people is overwhelming. In terms
03:58
of the actual death toll, that is something else we can obviously talk about, but you
04:03
spoke earlier about the possibility of secondary infection, about disease spreading in the
04:08
wake of the disaster. How serious a prospect is that?
04:13
It's always a concern for us with this exact type of scenario, when you have this type
04:19
of flooding and destruction, sewage water mixes with the water flowing, mixes with drinking
04:25
water, and the devastation. People, if they don't have clean water, they'll drink what
04:32
is available. Then you can have potential diseases spreading like cholera, we can see
04:38
skin infections and other types of illnesses. So it's very, very important to get water
04:44
purification units, water chlorination, even at the source, or water tablets for the population
04:50
that they can use until the water supply is restored. That is of paramount importance
04:57
and that is already en route with the Libyan Red Crescent.
05:02
Getting those urgent supplies to all the places in need, I mean that is a massive challenge
05:08
ahead for your teams on the ground and for local teams operating already there. How do
05:13
you begin to put that together, given the scale of the damage? What are the things you're
05:18
trying to put in place to make that happen?
05:23
The challenge, the number one challenge is actually the physical access, even if you
05:28
have the supplies. The pictures speak for themselves. Getting to the places where the
05:33
people need us and securing those services and then making them quickly available to
05:39
people is happening, but it is a race against time. Access has blocked the roads. The bridge
05:46
is connecting the two parts of the city that has been devastated. The three bridges across
05:52
the river, east and west, are destroyed. So you can imagine just the logistical challenges
05:57
of doing this. But the teams are dealing with this, despite the fact that it's overwhelming.
06:03
And they're also affected. Many of the teams that are responding from the Libyan Red Crescent
06:11
and the local civil defense authorities are from that town and that region, and they've
06:15
lost loved ones. So it's not for us also just the body count. It's about safe and respectful
06:24
and dignified burial for the family members that are pulled out.
06:28
And putting that all together, yes, is a challenge. It's not the first disaster the Red Cross
06:32
Red Crescent deals with of this scope and size. This is reminiscent for us of the massive
06:37
tsunami that hit Indonesia and that part of the world and Banda Aceh back in the days.
06:44
Similar picture, similar devastation. And we have a playbook and protocol how to respond
06:50
to this. And we do it. It's--situation is not okay, but we have to do this a step at
06:58
a time and working on multiple fronts simultaneously, search and rescue, first aid, clean water,
07:05
shelter, and so on. And that is now what is happening.
07:09
There is a level of chaos now that is expected, absolutely normal in those early days. And
07:16
every day we'll see that the systems get a little better organized and a little better
07:20
clear and more people arrive to help from different parts of Libya and internationally,
07:26
importantly.
07:27
I completely hear what you're saying, Dr. El-Shakawi, about this concept of the chaos.
07:32
And I don't think anybody watching this or following the story would hold anything against
07:36
yourself or anybody on the ground who's trying their best to do this. And as you point out,
07:42
many people working in the most difficult circumstances, because not only have they
07:45
lost perhaps their own home and members of their own family, but they're putting themselves
07:50
at risk to do this as well. So, you know, we salute those people trying to do those
07:53
things.
07:54
I think what everybody watching this will want to know is what can they do to help?
07:58
Is there anything that sort of people from around the world watching this program can
08:02
do to help?
08:03
Yes. Thank you for raising that. Many Red Crosses and Red Crescents around the world
08:10
are a membership in the Federation of Red Cross, are collecting money to aid Libya.
08:17
So contribute to your local Red Cross and Red Crescent. Designate the money to the Libyan
08:24
floods or in the storm, Daniel. And the money will come to our appeal of that emergency
08:33
appeal that will help us scale up the support of the Libyan Red Crescent. Some Red Crosses
08:39
are working directly with the Libyan Red Cross as well, and that's welcome. Some governments
08:44
from around the world are shipping. The flights have arrived already from Turkey and Qatar
08:51
and Saudi Arabia and the Emirates and Tunisia and Egypt. So neighbours are also helping
08:57
neighbours. It's a matter of coordinating that. International support from the public
09:04
and the private sector and corporations is most welcome. People can also go to IFRC.org
09:12
and contribute to the Libya appeal.
09:15
Dr. Hassam El-Shakawi, Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at the International
09:20
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Thank you, sir, for joining us. Thank you
09:24
for giving us that breakdown of what you are trying to do to help the people affected by
09:30
the situation in Libya. Estimates on the ground say there could be a death toll of something
09:35
like 20,000 because of the devastation that has been caused by the arrival of Storm Daniel,
09:41
the bursting of two dams sending what was effectively a tidal wave through the city
09:46
of Derna and other cities around also affected heavily by flooding. We will bring you, of
09:51
course, all developments on the situation in Libya as we get it here on France 24. More
09:56
news coming up. Stay with us.
09:57
[Music]
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