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Aid agencies say falluja is big disaster { November 12 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=620124§ion=newshttp://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=620124§ion=news
Aid agencies say Falluja is "big disaster"
Fri 12 November, 2004 09:20
By Omar Anwar
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Aid agencies have called on U.S. forces and the Iraqi government to allow them to deliver food, medicine and water to Falluja, and saying that four days of intense fighting have turned the city into a "big disaster".
The Iraqi Red Crescent Society, which receives support from foreign agencies including the Red Cross and UNICEF, said on Friday it had asked U.S. forces and Iraq's interim government to let them deliver relief goods to Falluja and establish a medical team in the city's main hospital, but had received no reply.
"We call on the Iraqi government and U.S. forces to allow us to do our humanitarian duty to the innocent people," said Firdoos al-Ubadi, Red Crescent spokeswoman.
"This is their responsibility," she said, adding that judging by reports received from refugees and pictures broadcast on television, Falluja was a "big disaster".
A U.S. military spokesman said the Red Crescent had permission to help refugees around Falluja, but could not say if it had been granted access to the city itself.
The Red Crescent has seven teams of doctors and relief workers, backed by trucks of food, medicine and water, ready to go into each of Falluja's districts when the word is given.
About 10,000 U.S. soldiers and Marines, backed by heavy artillery and war planes, surged into Falluja from several directions on Monday night, launching an offensive on rebels.
The U.S. military estimates that 600 militants have been killed in four days of street fighting. It says 18 U.S. troops and 34 Iraqi soldiers have also died and 178 Americans have been wounded.
Scores of buildings in Falluja have been completely destroyed, with TV footage showing some districts all but levelled. There has been no water and electricity for days and food shops have been closed, residents say.
HIT BY SHRAPNEL
U.S. commanders say civilian casualties have been low, but residents dispute that, describing incidents in which non-combatants, including women and children, have been killed by shrapnel or hit by bombs.
In one case earlier this week, a 9-year-old boy was hit in the stomach by a piece of shrapnel. His parents said they couldn't get him to hospital because of the fighting, so they wrapped sheets around his stomach to try to stem the bleeding. He died hours later of blood loss and was buried in the garden.
Rasoul Ibrahim, a father of three, fled Falluja on Thursday morning and arrived with his wife and children in Habbaniya, about 12 miles to the west, on Thursday night.
He said families left in the city were in desperate need.
"There's no water. People are drinking dirty water. Children are dying. People are eating flour because there's no proper food," he told aid workers in Habbaniya, which has become a refugee camp, with around 2,000 families sheltering there.
Ubadi from the Iraqi Red Crescent Society said many families taking refuge in Habbaniya and other villages nearby were suffering from diarrhoea and malnutrition and needed medicine as well as basic necessities such as lentils, sugar, bread, tea and candles.
She said a convoy of aid, including drinking water, food and medicine, was ready to leave for Falluja from Amiriya, a town to the south, but needed permission from U.S. forces. She also called on international aid agencies to send more supplies.
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