Up to 70,000 people are reported to be in need of emergency assistance. SVT's Carina Berfeldt states that at least 50 people are reported to have died in the Bahamas but that figure is feared to rise sharply.
-I talked to a Norwegian colleague from NRK who was at Abaco today. When he landed, the stench of dead bodies struck him. You couldn't see the bodies, but you could feel them lying beneath the masses, says Carina Bergfeldt of Houston, Texas.
"Logistic nightmare to move forward"The island of Great Abaco is said to be the worst affected, with 90 per cent of the infrastructure said to be knocked out. According to Carina Bergfeldt, the destroyed infrastructure makes it difficult to get relief efforts to the island.
"It's a logistical nightmare to get to places on Great Abaco and try to help," says Carina Bergfeldt.
"Want to help - but it's hard"The US Coast Guard, together with the US aid organization Aid, is on site in the Bahamas, where the latter must have sent 50 tonnes of food and supplies. At the same time, US Aid emphasizes the difficulties in reaching its aid efforts.
- Abaco and the other most scarce islands are so destroyed that you can't even build temporary warehouses. You cannot move forward, there is no electricity, there are not enough generators. The willingness to help is there, but it is difficult to implement it.