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00:00 Well for more we can speak now to Ahmed Bayram who is a media and communications advisor at the Norwegian
00:05 Refugee Council in the Middle East who joins us from Tunis. Thank you so much for joining us.
00:09 What more are you hearing about the scale of that disaster in Libya?
00:13 It is beyond imagination to be honest, it's shocking and
00:18 the more we speak to our teams and to partners, the you know, the more
00:24 shocked we are about this kind of damage. There are tens of thousands of people who have been
00:30 aid homeless by this, closer to 60,000 and it's anywhere between 30,000 and 60,000.
00:36 10,000 people missing, I mean as your reporter described it's utter devastation and the people
00:42 you know in in Derna can't get out,
00:45 aid cannot come in. I mean roads are gradually, very gradually, very slightly starting to open but nowhere near
00:54 enough to help people out and
00:57 what is worse is that dead bodies are still on the street. We're waiting, I mean rescue
01:04 operators tell us we're waiting for body bags to arrive and
01:09 you know the bodies cannot be
01:12 covered.
01:14 There is major risk of disease, outbreak of disease, there's major risk of further displacement for people who
01:22 already have been displaced once and twice
01:25 and yes, Libya
01:28 sadly is back in some very dark times.
01:31 Yeah, we're looking at some horrific pictures as you've been talking there. I mean really
01:36 hard to fathom the scale as you say.
01:39 Some aid is, as you say, getting through. Tell us what sorts of aid and equipment is most
01:45 urgently needed, especially in Derna?
01:48 I mean it's easy to say everything.
01:52 But indeed it is everything. I mean we we need to start from scratch.
01:56 We need to start from from the basics, from food, from clean drinking water,
02:00 from shelter. I mean people are you know staying with relatives in overcrowded shelters or
02:08 you know out in the open. Some people haven't slept for a few nights. So drinking water,
02:13 essentials for babies, for kids like baby milk
02:18 and baby formula.
02:21 These are the things that people need. Hygiene items for people. People don't have facilities to wash.
02:27 It's quite horrific what's happening and of course these are all
02:34 you know massive needs that will need the weight of the international community behind them.
02:40 We need to see urgent, urgent funding released to relieve these people.
02:47 I mean you know a town of 100,000, the accurate numbers are yet to be revealed.
02:54 But this is going to be a very long journey back to recovery for a lot of families.
02:59 Yeah, and indeed we may never know the true scale of
03:03 the number of people who've died. And one of the challenging issues there in Libya of course is we're talking about a country that's
03:10 divided. Does that make the logistics of the relief effort all the more complicated?
03:17 I mean hopefully not. We've heard some encouraging rhetoric from all around the table.
03:23 Everyone wants, it's in everyone's interest actually to help people out. These are encouraging signs.
03:30 I think the problem I mean logistically obviously is with the damaged infrastructure, with the damaged roads.
03:35 There's no way in easily.
03:38 The aid is taking time to arrive. These are all logistical challenges that
03:45 NGOs like NRC and others will have to navigate.
03:48 The other problem is as I said we are under-resourced in terms of funding and
03:53 the funding for Libya hasn't come through all these years. I mean it's massively underfunded response there.
04:00 And just lastly and quickly if you will, someone who's watching who wants to do something to help, what can they do?
04:06 They can log online, they can support, they can go to our website Norwegian Refugee Council, nrc.no.
04:14 We're launching an appeal for fundraisers for people, for generous people for Libyan diaspora in Europe.
04:20 They can of course donate to local NGOs and there are lots of them, very heroic
04:27 people on the ground,
04:30 you know,
04:32 inside DERNA,
04:34 supporting with rescue operations. So do everything you can I would say. I would appeal to these people
04:40 because these are thousands and thousands of people who need your help.
04:44 Okay, well, thank you so much for sharing that with us, Ahmed Bayram, at the Norwegian Refugee Council in the Middle East.
04:51 Thank you very much for your time.
04:53 Thank you.