TRIPOLI – 18 September – Teams from 9 UN agencies have been on the ground delivering aid and support to those affected by Storm Daniel and the flash flooding for the last few days. 

In the past few days, UNICEF teams were in Derna and the surrounding area assessing needs and delivering interagency emergency medical kits to primary care services to support 15,000 people for three months. With the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) distributing core relief kits of blankets, plastic tarpaulin and kitchen equipment to 6,200 displaced families in Derna and Benghazi. 

On Thursday teams began conducting field visits to Al Marj, Soussa, Shahat and al Bayda towns to deliver aid, and the UN in Libya continues to coordinate with Libyan authorities and international partners to ensure that the right aid, gets to the right people, at the right time.  

So far food rations have been distributed to over 5000 households through the World Food Programme (WFP) and 28 tons of medical supplies have been shipped by charter flight from the World Health Organization (WHO), which has also donated ambulances and medical kits.   

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has supported 460 families with non-food items and a further 4,000 families in Benghazi with medicine. Four medical teams are on the ground offering life-saving and disease prevention care to internally displaced people, particularly the Tawergha population. 

Both local officials, aid agencies and the WHO team are concerned about the risk of disease outbreak, particularly from contaminated water and the lack of sanitation. The team continues to work to prevent diseases from taking hold and causing a second devastating crisis in the area.    

Earlier in the week the UN also launched an emergency flash appeal totaling $71.4 million, and $10 million has been allocated from the UN’s Central Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) to support people affected by the floods.