March 27

INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS DAILY BULLETIN

In BAGHDAD: The ICRC doctor and his assistant visited four hospitals treating war-wounded patients (Baghdad has 33 hospitals in total but the ICRC focuses primarily on facilities receiving war wounded patients). Three of these hospitals reported 60 wounded and 15 deaths following the bombardments of the night from 25 to 26 March and the morning of 26 March. These figures cannot be independently confirmed.

BAGHDAD (covering 27 March)

Regular checks continued on the war-wounded being admitted to city hospitals. Also, for the first time, the ICRC team visited a 110-bed hospital 15 kilometres west of Baghdad.

A tent for a first-aid post was erected at Al-Yarmouk general teaching hospital.

The ICRC provided 250 blankets to Al-Numan general hospital and one kit for a first-aid post to Al-Khark hospital. The ICRC's delegation in Baghdad reports that for the moment they still have extensive stocks of surgical materials including dressing kits for the treatment of war-wounded.

Further discussions were held with the relevant authorities on how to operate water treatment works in an emergency, while urgent maintenance work was carried out at several water plants in the Baghdad area. At the same time, transport of supplementary drinking water to poorly served areas of the capital as well as health centres and hospitals continued. The ICRC also pursued general repair and maintenance work at various hospitals and an orphanage (for more detailed information on these activities see yesterday's bulletin).

The ICRC delegation gave three foreign students from the former Soviet Union the chance to call their families by satellite phone. The delegation is also following up a number of enquiries concerning the whereabouts of foreign journalists and peace activists who are reportedly in Baghdad.

BASRA (27 March)

The ICRC's delegation in Kuwait was in the process of procuring spare parts needed to start up the remaining three back-up generators at the Wafa' Al-Qaed pumping station north of Basra.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION - Assistance

Basic information on the ICRC's assistance capacities: what can we provide, how much per person and how much does it cost?

Food/non-food
The ICRC has sufficient food stocks in Iraq and neighbouring countries to feed 180,000 people affected by the war for one month. It could also supply hospitals and other institutions in Baghdad with adequate food for 5,000 people for one month.
A full food ration per person per month consists of: 6 kg wheat flower, 6 kg rice, 4 kg lentils, 2 litres vegetable oil, 1 kg sugar, 300g iodised salt. The approximate cost of this is 10.6 Swiss francs per month per person.
A standard non-food kit for a family of six consists of: 6 blankets, 1 bucket, 2 jerry cans, 1 kitchen set, 1 heater, 1 stove, 1 hygiene parcel. This kit costs about 140 to 150 Swiss francs per family.
These rations may be adapted according to specific needs observed by the ICRC in the field.

Medical assistance

Here are some of the standard assistance packages distributed by the ICRC:
First-aid kit for war-wounded: medicines and dressings for the pre-hospital treatment of war-wounded. Sufficient for 100 patients, only about 60-70 of whom will then need transfer to a hospital.
Kit for 100 war-wounded: medical and surgical supplies for 100 war-wounded patients hospitalized and requiring surgery. Since normally 30-40% of war-wounded patients do not require hospitalization or surgery, this kit covers about 140 war-wounded patients.
Dressing sets: sufficient dressing material for 10 seriously injured patients or 100-150 simple dressings.
New emergency health kits: standard international kit: adequate basic medicines to cover the medical needs of a civilian population of 30,000 people for one month.

Water

Supporting and maintaining the water-supply infrastructure is one of the ICRC's priorities. In the initial phase, our work focuses on carrying out emergency repairs on infrastructure that could benefit up to three million people.
A human being needs at least 2 to 6 litres of water per day depending on the climate and the activity they carry out. However, all other water needs (cooking, personal hygiene, washing etc.) need to be added. In Iraqi rural areas it can be reasonably assumed that the normal average consumption is between 30 and 50 litres per person per day; in urban areas 100 to 170 litres per day (for comparison: average consumption in Switzerland: 165 litres per person per day).


Arbil, northern Iraq (27 March)

The displaced

The situation concerning population displacements appeared to be relatively stable. There had been no significant movements of people from urban centres to rural areas over recent days. The ICRC is monitoring the situation closely, visiting different villages and towns across the Kurdish-controlled area of Iraq to evaluate the needs of displaced persons. Delegates also regularly consult other humanitarian organizations and local authorities.

Visits to detainees

The ICRC visited about 30 detainees held by Kurdish local authorities in Arbil governorate.

JORDAN

People leaving Iraq and arriving at the Al Ruweishid camp managed by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the Jordanian Red Crescent are able to use ICRC satellite phones to contact their families. By 26 March, 428 third-country nationals had made 530 calls to their relatives. The ICRC has also set up a website in English and Arabic to help people find out the whereabouts of their relatives. http://www.familylinks.icrc.org/home.nsf/home/webfamilylinks

GENEVA

The ICRC is finalizing the setting-up of a centralized tracing agency unit in Geneva, which will be responsible for processing and recording all personal data concerning protected people (including prisoners of war, civilian internees and military personnel reported "missing in action"). The unit is expected to be fully operational on 31 March. It will handle enquiries from National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, as well as personal data transmitted by the parties to the conflict.