Red Cross 'gravely concerned' about Swat humanitarian situation

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) - No running water, no electricity, no fuel and little food.

The stark situation in Pakistan's Swat Valley, where a month-long offensive against the Taliban has displaced more than 2 million civilians, has international Red Cross officials "gravely concerned."

Members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) arrived at the scene this weekend for the first time since the onset of violence in the Swat Valley. The organization evacuated more than a dozen victims in need of urgent medical care and called for an immediate humanitarian response.

"The people of Swat need greater humanitarian protection and assistance immediately," Pascal Cuttat, head of the organization's delegation in Pakistan, said in a statement Sunday. "The ICRC will do its utmost to meet those needs without delay. Given what we have already seen on the ground, we are mobilizing additional resources, but safe and unimpeded access to the area remains essential for our teams to deliver."

Those who have left their homes to escape the violence tell of the whole valley being turned into a battlefield as citizens flee on foot, many of them with no shoes and some elderly. They fall ill from sun and heat exposure - particularly infants and those already weak and sick - as they flee.

According to the most recent United Nations numbers, about 2.4 million Pakistanis have registered as displaced persons since May 2. Currently, the clashes are concentrated near Mingora, the valley's largest city.

"People have been blocked for weeks," said Daniel O'Malley, who led the ICRC team. "There is no running water, no electricity, and food is scarce. There is no fuel left for generators and most medical facilities in the district are no longer functioning. Phone lines are down, so people have been cut off from the outside world and are anxious for contact with relatives who fled the area."

The Red Cross team visited Khwazakhela hospital, one of the few medical facilities left in Swat Valley, to deliver supplies and found a small group of hospital staff struggling to work without water, electricity or supplies," O'Malley said. "They simply cannot cope with the influx of patients."

The team evacuated 14 patients.