Morocco and Libya disasters: Food, shelter, health care needed but also psychosocial care – top UN aid chief

While UN humanitarians scale up the response to survivors of the flood disaster in Libya which wiped out entire neighborhoods and left thousands dead and many more missing, the UN’s aid chief warned on Friday that mental health care will be a huge issue for survivors of that catastrophe and the Moroccan earthquake last week.

“The clear core business of humanitarian response, food, shelter, health care, but also in a disaster like this - Libya, as well as Morocco, but Libya -  is going to be a huge issue is psychosocial care,” said Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.

The organisation’s top aid official said that in Libya “some families have lost 50 or more members” when rains from Storm Daniel forced two dams close to the now devastated port city of Derna to burst, washing entire communities out to sea. According to Mr. Griffiths, there was speculation that some 20,000 people may have lost their lives in the flooding and 900,000 people in the country had been affected, in addition to the 300,000 Libyans already requiring humanitarian aid prior to the disaster.

The deadly storm in Libya and the earthquake in Morocco come in an unprecedented year of climate disasters and record-breaking weather events, from devastating wildfires to excessive heatwaves.

“What is so deeply shocking about this is, I think in both cases, and they are very different crises as we know, but in both cases it's a massive reminder of climate and its presence,” said Mr. Griffiths. “Anywhere in the world we know that, we face a really, really difficult year ahead and government capacities are going to be stretched to the limit, as we see in both these countries.”

The opening of a maritime route to bring in aid to Derna, which is under discussion by local authorities, could address the access problem for humanitarian  workers: “When we talk about access, in particular when we talk about the increasing number of affected populations, the access to cities is now very challenging because there is only one road that leads from Benghazi to Derna,” said Tamar Ramadan, head of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) delegation in Libya. He added that “there are a lot of humanitarian actors on the ground who are trying to provide aid but coordination is key in this response”.

Although there are thousands of dead bodies requiring prompt burial in the affected areas in Morocco and Libya, the UN health agency WHO and other relief organizations played down the public health risk. The mental health strains associated with the trauma were undeniable, however.

“Dead bodies per se are not, especially after a disaster like this, are unlikely to be a health risk. People have died because of the massive flood or the earthquake, not because of an epidemic-prone disease”, said Dr. Margaret Harris from the World Health Organization. “However, there are certain things, for instance feces from the dead body can contaminate the water if not handled properly. This is why proper management is critical.”

While paramedics and volunteers continue to work searching for thousands of missing people in the flooded Libyan city of Derna, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned of the danger of unexploded ordnances in this afflicted city.

“This is a country that has suffered from obviously years of conflict and violence and the ripple effects of protracted conflict,” said Crystal Wells, ICRC spokesperson. “We don’t have a full scope right now in terms of the level of weapon contamination in the area but this is something that our teams will be looking into because it can obviously create an additional risk for communities, for first responders and for those who are doing the very tragic and sad job of trying to recover the remains of those who died.”

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Mr. Griffiths said that in Morocco, the earthquake had claimed nearly 3,000 lives. Although the early figures were “terrible enough”, they are likely to be overtaken by events as rescuers work through the rubble. 

Within 24 hours of the earthquake which shook Morocco’s Atlas Mountains last Friday, the UN deployed a disaster assessment and coordination (UNDAC) team of 15 people out of Geneva and key staff from the region.

Speaking from Marrakech on the ongoing search and rescue operations, IFRC’s Benoit Carpentier  said that “we’re facing here a disaster where it’s not centralized in one place, it’s hundreds and hundreds of villages that are scattered in the mountains. Some will be, the one I went to yesterday 13,000, that’s not a village, that’s a little town. But we’re talking about sometimes little villages that have 10 or sometimes 100 people.”

-ends-

1. Exterior medium shot: UN flag alley, UN Geneva
2. Wide shot: speakers and attendees at the press conference, screens with speaker
3. SOUNDBITE (English) – Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator: “The clear core business of humanitarian response, food, shelter, health care, but also in a disaster like this, Libya, as well as Morocco, but Libya is going to be a huge issue is psychosocial care.”
4. Wide shot: attendees, cameramen/women and sound engineers at the press conference, screens with speaker
5. SOUNDBITE (English) – Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator: “What is so deeply shocking about this is, I think in both cases, and they are very different crises as we know. But in both cases it's a massive reminder of climate and its presence. Anywhere in the world we know that, we face a really, really difficult year ahead and government capacities are going to be stretched to the limit as we see in both these countries”.
6. Wide shot: attendees, cameramen/women and sound engineers at the press conference, screens with speakers
7. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr. Margaret Harris, spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO): “Dead bodies per se are not, especially after a disaster like this, are unlikely to be a health risk. People have died because of the massive flood or the earthquake, not because of an epidemic-prone disease. However, there are certain things, for instance feces from the dead body can contaminate the water if not handled properly. This is why proper management is critical.”
8. Medium shot: speakers and attendees at the press conference, screens with speaker
9. SOUNDBITE (English) – Tamar Ramadan, head of IFRC delegation in Libya: “When we talk about access, in particular when we talk about the increasing number of affected populations, the access to cities is now very challenging because there is only one road that leads from Benghazi to Derna. There are a lot of humanitarian actors on the ground who are trying to provide aid but coordination is key in this response.”
10. Wide shot: attendees, cameramen/women and sound engineers at the press conference, screens with speaker
11. SOUNDBITE (English) – Crystal Wells, spokesperson from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) : “This is a country that has suffered from obviously years of conflict and violence and the ripple effects of protracted conflict. We don’t have a full scope right now in terms of the level of weapon contamination in the area but this is something that our teams will be looking into because it can obviously create an additional risk for communities, for first responders. And as my colleague pointed out, for those who are doing the very tragic and sad job of trying to recover the remains of those who died.”
12. Close shot: cameraman at the press conference
13. SOUNDBITE (English) – Benoit Carpentier, spokesperson from the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC): “We’re facing here a disaster where it’s not centralized in one place, it’s hundreds and hundreds of villages that are scattered in the mountains. Some will be, the one I went to yesterday 13’000, that’s not a village, that’s a little town. But we’re talking about sometimes little villages that have ten or sometimes hundred people.”
14. Medium shot: speakers and attendees at the press conference, screens with speaker
15. Close shot: attendee at the press conference
16. Medium shot: cameraman and sound engineers at the press conference