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Humanitarian effort disaster { April 7 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,5944-637554,00.html http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,5944-637554,00.html Iraq April 07, 2003 Humanitarian effort dismissed as a disaster By Anthony Browne IRAQIS are suffering from a lack of water, food and medical supplies, aid agencies said yesterday, as humanitarian relief trickled in to the safest parts of the country. Many Iraqis have complained that they are far worse off now than they were before the war. Doctors are so short of drugs and surgical equipment that they cannot treat patients and some families in the south have had nothing to eat but tomatoes for two weeks. Large parts of Basra and Baghdad have no water because power cuts have shut down the water-supply system. Aid agencies had stockpiled supplies in surrounding countries and in the past few days they have started sending convoys of lorries to parts of the country they consider safe enough. Their supplies are in additional to the military humanitarian effort, but they say that the supplies are still far too few to meet the need and that much of the country is too dangerous to operate in. The World Food Programme said that the country had only enough food to last until the end of the month and the oil-for-food programme, which fed Iraq before the war, was not yet operating again. Red Cross lorries loaded with medical supplies have got into Basra and Baghdad, and Unicef lorries carrying water and health kits have got into al-Zubayr and Safwan. The World Food Programme delivered 1,000 tonnes of wheat flour to northern Iraq from Turkey yesterday, and Unicef lorries carrying health kits will set off tomorrow for al-Nasiriyah. “None of this is enough — our drivers are coming back with long lists from doctors of what they need. It’s a good beginning, but it’s only a beginning,” Wivina Belmonte, a spokeswoman for Unicef, said. Even in Umm Qasr, which has been under British control for two weeks, conditions remain dire. People are desperately short of water, with children begging for it in the streets, and a tanker of water was actually sent from Basra, despite that city still being an active war zone. The Roman Catholic aid charity Cafod, which has visited Umm Qasr for the past three days, said that the humanitarian effort had been a shambles. “Humanitarian need has not been met in certain areas — in certain parts people still have no water and in others they have nothing to eat but tomatoes. But Umm Qasr has only 40,000 people and it’s been in coalition hands for two weeks — it bodes badly for Basra and Baghdad,” Patrick Nicholson, a Cafod official, said. The Red Cross has installed six electricity generators in Basra, helping to restore water supplies to 60 per cent of the population. It has also installed generators to keep the water supply going in Baghdad. However, the main problem is lack of medical supplies for hospitals, struggling to cope with a vast number of casualties. “The hospitals in Baghdad are having great difficulty keeping up with patients — they are receiving hundreds of patients an hour,” a Red Cross spokesman said. Before the war, 60 per cent of Iraqis were totally dependent on the oil-for-food programme, which was suspended at the start of hostilities. The UN Security Council voted on March 28 to restart it, but, although the programme is officially working, it has not yet sent any food to Iraq. Aid agencies also gave warning that the push by British troops into the heart of Basra would not guarantee that it would be easier to distribute aid there. The British Red Cross said: “What governs it is the security situation and whether it is safe for our staff to operate. It doesn’t matter really if one side is in control, it could still be dangerous.” A spokeswoman for Oxfam also said that its workers would not be entering the city because it was still considered too dangerous. She added: “There’s a humanitarian imperative and we want to go in as soon as we can. We have all seen the chaotic delivery of aid over the past few weeks and that’s something we are concerned about.”

1700 iraqi civilian deaths { May 18 2003 } 36 dead civilians bahgdad bombing { March 27 2003 } 4000 dead civilians one week { March 27 2003 } 50 die market blast Accuses us targeting civilians Baghdad blasts kill 17 civilians { March 27 2003 } Baghdad hospital bombed { April 2 2003 } Baghdad market world cries { March 29 2003 } Baghdad marketplace hit Bathed in blood { April 6 2003 } Bloody checkpoint marines weeping { April 6 2003 } Bombed maternity hospital Boy without arms [jpg] Boy without arms2 [jpg] Chick got in the way { March 29 2003 } Children die checkpoint { April 1 2003 } Cluster bombs liberate children Concern grows for iraqi civilians { April 6 2003 } Counting iraqis dead { March 25 2003 } Cruise missile residential area { March 26 2003 } Denies targeting baghdad marketplace Errant missile hits iran { March 22 2003 } Excessive force cluster bombs { April 1 2003 } Explosions dismemberd iraqis { April 3 2003 } Face of war [jpg] Forces kill 7 woman children High civilian death toll { May 22 2003 } Hilla hospital cluster bombs { April 3 2003 } Hit marketplace 3 26 03 [jpg] Hospitals overwhelmed Humanitarian effort disaster { April 7 2003 } Hundreds reported dead Iran says building hit { March 22 2003 } Iraq shows casualties hospital { April 3 2003 } Iraqi civilian deaths 10 000 Iraqi wounded too high to count Marketplace death us missile { April 2 2003 } Mirror appeal boy without arms Missile strikes baghdad market friday Missile strikes house family { March 25 2003 } Nasiriya bridge slaughter { March 31 2003 } Outrage over damage homes cluster bombs Proof marketplace us missile Rutba hospital bombed { March 31 2003 } Saddam bombs hit homes Slaughter bridge death Target baghdad marketplace Tours hospitals wounded Vegetable market bombed Women children killed highway9 { April 1 2003 } Files Listed: 50

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