Muscat: On Royal directives of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik, Oman Charitable Organisation (OCO) delivered more than 80 tonnes of Omani relief and medical aid to the Red Crescent in Libya.
His Majesty the Sultan Royal Directives were to send urgent humanitarian aid to Libya to support efforts made to deal with the floods that devastated eastern Libya recently.
The Royal gesture comes within the context of fraternal relations between Oman and Libya and as an expression of Oman’s keenness to extend a helping hand to those facing natural disasters.
The UN warned Monday that disease outbreaks could bring "a second devastating crisis" to Libya a week after a huge flash flood shattered the coastal city of Derna, sweeping thousands to their deaths.
Local officials, aid agencies, and the World Health Organization "are concerned about the risk of disease outbreak, particularly from contaminated water and the lack of sanitation", the United Nations said.
The flash flood that has killed nearly 3,300 people and left thousands more missing came after the war-scarred North African country was lashed by the hurricane-strength Storm Daniel on September 10.
Tens of thousands of traumatized residents are homeless and badly in need of clean water, food, and basic supplies amid a growing risk of cholera, diarrhea, dehydration, and malnutrition, UN agencies have warned.
The disease control center banned citizens in the disaster zone from drinking water from local mains, warning that it is "polluted".
Rescue teams from several European and Arab countries kept up the grim search for bodies in the mud-caked wasteland of smashed buildings, crushed cars, and uprooted trees.
The waters submerged a densely populated six-square-kilometre (2.3-square-mile) area in Derna, damaging 1,500 buildings of which 891 were totally razed, according to a preliminary report released by the Tripoli government based on satellite images.
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