Fears grow for Falluja citizens; Red Cross

[Englander]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4021629.stm

The Red Cross says it has serious concerns about the plight of civilians in the Iraqi city of Falluja.

It has called for an independent assessment of conditions in Falluja, where there is still no electricity or tap water.

Conditions in Falluja are said to be desperate, after months in which militants held the city, and the US first bombarded what it called rebel positions, then invaded.

An ICRC spokesman told BBC News that Falluja's main hospital, on the outskirts of the city, had been freshly stocked with medical equipment, but that wounded people could not get there.

[noamnety]

1. but this makes it okay

"He added that residents who had fled would be helped to return, and each family would receive $100 compensation."
:eyes:

[Ima]

2. $100?

How many deaths per family before you recieve it?

[maddezmom]

3. U.N.: Estimated 250,000 Fled Fallujah

GENEVA - Relief organizations estimate up to 250,000 Iraqis have fled Fallujah to nearby villages and Baghdad, but the groups have not been able to assess the refugees' needs because of fighting around the former insurgent bastion, a U.N. official said Thursday.



Astrid van Genderen Stort, spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commission for Refugees in Amman, Jordan, said there didn't appear to be an immediate threat of a lack of food because most of those who fled either took supplies with them or are being fed by their hosts.


She said relief workers think most of the displaced people are staying with friends or relatives in nearly a dozen villages around Fallujah and worry that the increased population may be overwhelming water and sanitation facilities in some areas.


"We hope that we can access these people soon to know what the exact needs are and to make sure that these needs are met," van Genderen Stort said. "The access is very difficult. You just can't give the support you would give in an ordinary refugee crisis."

more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=736&e=2&u=/ap/20041118/ap_on_re_mi_ea/un_aid_iraq