AMMAN, Jordan, April 6 (UPI) -- The plight of civilians in Iraq is "extremely critical" with thousands of wounded and dozens of dead recorded by hospitals over the past three days, a spokesman for the International Red Cross told United Press International Sunday.
"Until a maybe a couple of days ago, the hospitals seemed to be functioning very well," said Mul'n I. Kassis, head of communications for the ICRC, "with the material we had prepared. Now we are extremely concerned about the capacity of the hospitals, particularly since in the past two days hospitals in Baghdad report hundreds of war wounded and dozens of deaths on a daily basis."
He said situation "would rapidly consume resources and go far beyond the capacities and abilities of the hospitals" to deal with the wounded. Kassis said the ICRC does not report numbers of wounded or killed unless its own field teams confirm them or they come from hospitals or credible local officials.
He said the "four main hospitals receiving war wounded in Baghdad told our teams there hundreds of wounded and dozens killed from bombardment inside the city." He said that a very high percentage of these were children and the bulk of them civilians. Hospitals accept all wounded he said whether they are civilian or combatants.
Iraqi government estimates late Sunday reported were over 1,252 deaths and 5,103 injured. Kassis said a "few days ago our teams said the found 280 war wounded in a hospital in a town called Hilla near Baghdad and they saw around 33 persons killed." This report in on locale alone would indicate Iraqi estimates are not unrealistic.
Contributing to the crisis for civilian Iraqis, he said, is the critical shortage of water and the rising temperatures as Iraq enters its summer. Yesterday temperatures in southern Iraq reached 40 Celsius and 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
The situation he said its "extremely critical in view of increasing cut outs of electricity and water supplies, Basra shows how critical. It is increasingly hot, increasingly humid in Basra." Kassis said that as the temperatures rise the already critical shortage of water cannot meet the increasing demand. "The civilian population not getting enough or barely enough of the water they need to survive."
Beginning last fall, as war fears in the region increased, ICRC pre-positioned medical supplies and such water purification equipment as backup generators for water plans in Iraq and neighboring countries. There is a giant warehouse ready with medical, food, and humanitarian supplies in Jordan.
"We could not disregard the indication that the war could not be averted," he said.
ICRC's mission was "mainly care for war wounded, providing fresh water, potable water to hospitals, back up generators, water treatment units, to maintain regular flow of water supplies to civilian populations." He said it is also trying to care for "internally displaced Iraqis who have fled their homes and to visit prisoners of war on both sides."
The ICRC issued a financial appeal for $80 million on March 26 to the Red Cross and Red Crescent agencies that.
Shortly before the war, ICRC pared down its international staff inside Iraq from 37 to 10 and its Iraqi national staff from 400 to 100. ICRC has been Iraq since Gulf War I ended in 1991 caring for thousands of displaced persons from that conflict.
For 19 days of the war the ICRC teams having been moving about Iraq through the fighting, monitoring the needs of hospitals and care givers. But now "Communication through satellite telephones is becoming more difficult," he said, "because the line overwhelmed by a huge amount of communications in and out.
"Our team in Baghdad suspended movements in Baghdad Saturday because security became so critical," he said. "We may not be able to get know what hospitals are experiencing until it eases." No ICRC personnel have been injured, he said. "They are safe, their morale is high, but as you can imagine, they are extremely tired."
In the south, ICRC has been able to send in water purification teams and when fighting eases, it will likely send convoys of supplies to Baghdad.
But even with all their concerns in Baghdad, Basra and the northern cities like Erbil, Kassis said, they are even more concerned with what's happening where they have no teams. "Our concern is for humanitarian need in areas like Najaf, Karbala, Nasiriyah, and Samawah. We are getting very much concerned about the general situation, electricity and water cuts in those areas."
