29 metric tons of relief supplies reach flood-stricken Libya

• The shipment reflects an intensified emergency response to the unprecedented flooding in Libya’s eastern city of Derna
• WHO’s representative in Libya, Dr. Ahmed Zouiten, said: ‘We are committed to providing the necessary support to restore health services for the affected population’

AMMAN: The World Health Organization’s second shipment of 29 metric tons of health supplies arrived in flood-stricken Libya on Saturday from WHO’s Global Logistics Hub in Dubai.
The shipment reflects an intensified emergency response to the unprecedented flooding in Libya’s eastern city of Derna in the aftermath of Storm Daniel and is reportedly enough to help over 250,000 people, the Jordan News Agency reported.
Citing a media statement, Petra reported that the storm’s impact was compounded by the collapse of two dams that led to the deaths of thousands of people in Derna. More than 9,000 people remain missing.
WHO’s representative in Libya, Dr. Ahmed Zouiten, said: “This is a disaster of epic proportions … we are committed to providing the necessary support to restore health services for the affected population in eastern Libya.”
The international health agency’s teams are working with the Libyan Ministry of Health to track the dead and those missing, according to the statement, with the bodies of 3,958 people having been recovered and identified. Search and rescue operations are ongoing.
Zouiten said Saturday’s shipment will help replenish supplies in more than half of the health facilities in the affected areas, most of which lack sufficient medicine and equipment to function properly.
“The supplies will be given to hospitals and primary health care centers,” said Zouiten, adding that the shipment is the second made by WHO.
On Thursday, WHO’s director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “Even while the death toll is increasing, the health needs of the survivors are becoming more urgent … WHO is releasing $2 million from our emergency contingency fund to support our response.”
Tedros, who described the floods as a “calamity of epic proportions,” said WHO was deploying contingency supplies which were already in Libya, as well as sending trauma, surgical and emergency supplies from its logistics hub in Dubai.