2023-09-16 09:23:22
Humanitarian organizations have warned of the growing risk of the spread of diseases following the floods which left thousands dead and missing in eastern Libya where hopes of finding survivors dwindled on Saturday, six days later the catastrophe.
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Storm Daniel, which struck the town of Derna during the night from Sunday to Monday, led to the rupture of two dams upstream, causing a dazzling flood, of the magnitude of a tsunami, along the wadi which crosses the city, carrying everything in its path.
In Al-Bayda, another large town 100 km west of Derna, residents clear mounds of mud left by the flood from roads and houses.
Humanitarian organizations such as Islamic Relief and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) have warned of the risks of spreading disease linked to possible water contamination. Many people were swept towards the Mediterranean Sea which washed up dozens of decomposing corpses.
Government officials in flood-hit eastern Libya have put forward different tolls, with one putting at least 3,840 dead. During the night from Friday to Saturday, the Minister of Health of the government in the east of the country, Othman Abdeljalil, reported a death toll of 3,166 which includes 101 victims whose bodies were discovered and then buried during the only day of Friday.
But the number of victims might be much higher given the large number of missing people, at least 10,000, according to a UN estimate.
Before the disaster, Derna had 100,000 inhabitants. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported more than 38,000 displaced people in the east hit by floods, including 30,000 in Derna.
“Chaotic situation”
Manoelle Carton, medical coordinator of a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) team that arrived two days ago in Derna, describes a “chaotic” situation which prevented the census from taking place and identifying the victims.
“Many volunteers from all over Libya and abroad are on site. Aid coordination is urgent,” she insists.
The work of rescue and search teams is considerably hampered by the political chaos that has prevailed in the North African country since the death of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with two rival governments, one in Tripoli (west), recognized by the UN and led by Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dbeibah, and the other in the East, affiliated with the camp of powerful Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
To organize the search, the head of the executive in eastern Libya, Osama Hamad, affirmed that “from Saturday, new measures will be applied in the disaster zone” which will be closed, according to him to civilians. and security services.
“Only Libyan and foreign research teams and investigators will have access to it,” he said.
Stephanie Williams, an American diplomat and former UN representative in Libya, called for urgent international intervention, advocating the creation of a “joint national/international mechanism to oversee aid funds.”
She castigated on
“Enormous needs”
Marshal Haftar’s spokesperson, Ahmad al-Mesmari, reported “enormous needs for reconstruction” during a press conference Friday evening in Benghazi, the large city in eastern Libya, the cradle of 2011 uprising.
Although the tragedy occurred in an area under the control of the eastern camp, Mr. Dbeibah said this week that the absence of adequate development plans and “wear and tear caused by time” had contributed to it.
“This is one of the consequences of quarrels, wars and squandering of funds,” he said.
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