Ebola outbreak frustrates Ottawa woman trying to help relatives

An Ottawa woman says she is frustrated as she faces difficulties trying to help friends and relatives dealing with the Ebola epidemic in West African countries.

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From Canada, Christiana Reeves says she is frustrated watching people she knows suffer without much help.

Reeves has lived in Ottawa for 16 years, comingfrom Monrovia, Liberia in 1995 andspending three years in Nova Scotia before moving to the nations capital.

She has spoken to her sister and nephew in Liberia throughout the ongoing epidemic, hearing how curfews and quarantined have limited movement within the country.

Ebola claimed a fourth doctor over the weekend and the disease is surging beyond control killing nearly 900 people, with hundreds more infected.

Reeves said her sister and nephew are healthyand she feels lucky for that. But many people she knows havent been able to reach their families and friends back home.

She said people cant work in West African countries, so they cant make money and as a result, cant eat.

Ebola 'like a war' that's attacked West Africa

"I'm not able to help. I'm not there to see if I can do anything," Reeves said.

"This sickness, this virus, is like a war that has attacked Liberia, Guinea and SierraLeone. That's how we see it and the three countries will have to start all over again."

Liberia has recorded the highest number of Ebola cases and deaths.

Officials on Saturday released a letter President Ellen JohnsonSirleafsent this week to U.S. President Barack Obama appealing for a dramatic increase in support to address an emergency she said "threatens civil order."

In addition to the struggles of Liberians and other West Africans, those countries hardest hit by the Ebola outbreak are falling short on treatment and infection control measures because of a lack of resources and medical staff.

So far, only foreign health and aid workers have been evacuated from Sierra Leone and Liberia for treatment.