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15-09-2023 | Latest News , Africa

Libya: Ensuring the dignified treatment of the deceased

ENG

 In the wake of the devastating floods in Libya’s northeast, over 10,000 people are still missing. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is sending additional supplies, including 5,000 body bags, to Libya to support with the dignified identification and burial of those who have tragically lost their lives.

The ICRC forensic teams in Benghazi and Misrata is working with local authorities and the Libyan Red Crescent Society to care for the dead.  The aim is to ensure that each person is laid to rest in easily traceable and properly documented individual graves within demarcated burial sites. Such forensic measures are part of the ICRC’s work to support families with missing loved ones. 

Vital supplies such as medicines, food, first aid kits, and household items are also on the way to help the thousands of families affected by this disaster.

Malak Buozayan from the ICRC in Misrata shared: “Our teams are loading medical supplies and body bags that will be taken to people affected by the floods in Derna. This storm has impacted people already affected by years of conflict in the country.  As the death toll rises, people are desperately searching for missing loved ones.”

The ICRC is also assessing potential dangers from unexploded ordnance and abandoned munition stores in Derna and how to best protect residents, emergency responders, and authorities.

For more information on the dignified care of the deceased: ICRC/IFRC/WHO Manual for the Management of the Dead After Disasters.

SHOTLIST 

Length: 03:09

Copyright: ICRC access all

On Screen Credit: ICRC written or logo

Date 15.09.2023, Geneva Switzerland

00:00 – 01:33     Footage from Geneva airport of body bags being loaded on a plane to Libya

Date 14.09.2023, Misrata Libya

01:33 – 02:31     ICRC Misrata warehouse, Libya

02:31 – 3:09        SOUNDBITE ICRC colleague, Malak Buozayan, Misrata, Libya (in English)

“I am here in Misrata where our teams are loading medical supplies, body bags that will be taken to people affected by the floods in Derna.

This storm has impacted people already affected by years of conflict in the country.

Families are known to be trapped in their homes without electricity and supplies.

As the death toll rises, people are desperately searching for missing loved ones.

The trauma and loss is weighing on everyone, especially vulnerable groups, Children and elderly.  Please support our efforts.”

Ends

For further information, please contact:

Jessica Moussan, ICRC Dubai, tel +971 504 254 091 jmoussan@icrc.org 

Imene Trabelsi, ICRC Lebanon, tel. +961 313 83 53, itrabelsi@icrc.org 

Alaa Nayel, ICRC Kuwait, tel: +965 966 73 614, anayel@icrc.org 

Crystal Wells, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 79 642 80 56, cwells@icrc.org 

Fatima Sator, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 79 848 4908, fsator@icrc.org 

Christoph Hanger, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 79 731 04 03, changer@icrc.org 

Shuangfeng Zhang, ICRC Beijing, tel: +86 138 100 355 22, szhang@icrc.org  

Matthew Morris, ICRC London, +44 7753 809 471, mmorris@icrc.org 

Frédéric Joli, ICRC Paris, +33 6 20 49 46 30, fjoli@icrc.org 

Elizabeth Shaw, ICRC Washington, +1 202 361 1566, eshaw@icrc.org

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a neutral, impartial and independent organization with an exclusively humanitarian mandate that stems from the Geneva Conventions of 1949. It helps people around the world affected by armed conflict and other violence, doing everything it can to protect their lives and dignity and to relieve their suffering, often alongside its Red Cross and Red Crescent partners.

Duration : 3m 10s
Size : 3.1 GB
On Screen Credit: ICRC or logo

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