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Libya floods: UN says most casualties could have been avoided, as thousands more feared dead [1]
['Sana Noor Haq Celine Alkhaldi Eyad Kourdi', 'Sana Noor Haq', 'Celine Alkhaldi', 'Eyad Kourdi']
Date: 2023-09-14
CNN —
The United Nations has said most of the deaths in flash floods that tore through Libya could have been “avoided,” as relief workers struggle to deliver crucial aid in a humanitarian effort stifled by political divisions and debris from the disaster.
At least 5,000 people have died in Libya, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Thursday, revising an earlier estimate of 8,000. Thousands more are feared missing after entire buildings were “wiped out” when a seven-meter wave hit the northern coastal city of Derna, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Thursday.
The unprecedented rainfall engulfed cities in the North African nation last week, rupturing two dams in the country’s northeast and sending a deluge of water to Derna, which has seen the worst of the devastation.
“If there would have been a normally operating meteorological service, they would have issued the warnings and also the emergency management of this would have been able to carry out evacuations of the people and we would have avoided most of the human casualties,” Petteri Taalas, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) secretary-general, told reporters in a news conference in Geneva on Thursday.
“Of course, we cannot fully avoid economic losses but we could’ve also minimized those losses by having proper services in place,” Talaas added.
Talaas said the WMO has tried to interact with Libyan officials on improving these mechanisms, but because the “security situation in the country is so difficult, it is difficult to go there.”
Libya has been riven by political turmoil since civil war erupted in 2014, and now has two rival governments, the eastern parliament-backed government in Benghazi and the internationally recognized government in Tripoli.
Each has reported conflicting numbers for victims following the catastrophic floods in the country. CNN is unable to independently verify the number of deaths or those missing.
‘Single wave tsunami’
The head of the ICRC’s Libya delegation said it will take “many months, maybe years,” for residents in Derna to recover from the scale of damage, after a seven-meter wave thrashed the northern coastal city this week.
“This disaster was violent and brutal. A wave 7 metres high wiped-out buildings and washed infrastructure into the sea. Now family members are missing, dead bodies are washing back up on shore, and homes are destroyed,” Yann Fridez said.
“It will take many months, maybe years, for residents to recover from this huge level of damage.”
The ICRC had a team in Derna to support families with micro-economic activities when the floodwaters overwhelmed the city, adding it will distribute 6,000 body bags to forensic teams in the eastern city of Benghazi to “ensure dignified treatment of the dead.”
Access to the flood-hit areas remains a “major challenge” because roads were destroyed, the ICRC said.
Libya’s former health minister Reida El Oakley told CNN’s Becky Anderson on Wednesday that “a huge wave, as high as a six-story building or higher, swept the whole country as a single wave tsunami.”
Khaled Al-Shuwaihed, a Libyan citizen, said the situation in Derna “was a catastrophe.”
“It was a catastrophe, all of my friends are dead,” al-Shuwaihed told Reuters on Thursday.
“One of my friends at the very beginning was filming from the top of the valley, my friend, he was filming, he died. Someone named Nasir Fatoury and his children (are said to be dead) but these are all rumors at this point, nothing has been confirmed. One of my friends and his five children, only one of them found us.”
People walk through rubble and debris left by flooding in Derna, Libya, on Sunday, September 17. Esam Omran Al-fetori/Reuters A woman who said she lost family members in the deadly storm reacts as she walks past destroyed houses in Derna on September 17. Zohra Bensemra/Reuters Debris caused by flooding in Derna is pictured Saturday, September 16. Zohra Bensemra/Reuters A rescuer from the United Arab Emirates uses a dog to look for human remains in a destroyed building in Derna on September 16. Amr Alfiky/Reuters An aerial view shows the destruction in the aftermath of the floods in Derna on September 16. Ayman Al-sahili/Reuters Volunteers carry a body to a truck in Derna on September 16. Zohra Bensemra/Reuters A car upturned by floodwater inside a shop in Derna on September 16. Zohra Bensemra/Reuters A man walks by the graves of flood victims in Derna on Friday, September 15. Yousef Murad/AP People line up to receive food aid on September 15. Esam Omran Al-Fetori/Reuters An aerial view of the devastation after flooding caused by Storm Daniel on September 15. Muhammad J. Elalwany/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images A mosque stands amid damaged buildings on Thursday, September 14. Abdullah Doma/AFP/Getty Images A man carries a child on his shoulder as he walks past a flood-damaged area in Derna on September 14. Abdullah Doma/AFP/Getty Images Toys are scattered outside a damaged house on September 14. Yousef Murad/AP People look at damaged areas of Derna on September 14. Esam Omran Al-Fetori/Reuters People carry some of their belongings as they walk along a muddy street on September 14. Abdullah Doma/AFP/Getty Images Bodies of flooding victims are transported in Derna on Wednesday, September 13. Yousef Murad/AP A search-and-rescue team from the Egyptian army looks at damaged cars in Derna on September 13. Esam Omran Al-Fetori/Reuters A body is carried away in Derna on September 13. Ahmed Elumami/Reuters People search for survivors in Derna on September 13. Yousef Murad/AP Buildings are damaged in Derna on September 13. Esam Omran Al-Fetori/Reuters Rescuers inspect damaged areas in Derna on September 13. Esam Omran Al-Fetori/Reuters People walk between the rubble in Derna on September 13. Esam Omran Al-Fetori/Reuters An overhead view of the flood damage in Derna on September 13. Muhammad J. Elalwany/AP Members of the Libyan Red Crescent walk in Derna on September 13. Esam Omran Al-Fetori/Reuters Workers bury the bodies of flood victims in Derna on September 13. Yousef Murad/AP An aerial view of Derna on Tuesday, September 12. Jamal Alkomaty/AP A road is collapsed in Derna on September 12. Jamal Alkomaty/AP A man sits amid flood debris in Derna on September 12. Esam Omran Al-Fetori/Reuters A damaged vehicle is partially buried in Derna on September 12. Abdullah Mohammed Bonja/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images People cover the body of a victim in Derna on September 12. Abdullah Mohammed Bonja/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images This satellite photo shows the extent of Derna's flooding on September 12. Planet Labs PBC/AP People stand on a damaged road in Shahhat, Libya, on Monday, September 11. Omar Jarhman/Reuters People make their way through a damaged area of Derna on September 11. AFP/Getty Images Toys are strewn across the ground at a damaged store in Derna on September 11. AFP/Getty Images Floodwaters cover Shahhat on September 11. Ali Al-Saadi/Reuters Overturned cars are piled in a street in Derna on September 11. AFP/Getty Images The body of a flood victim lies in the back of a pickup truck in Derna on September 11. AFP/Getty Images A seaside road is collapsed in Derna on September 11. Libyab government/Handout/AP In photos: Catastrophic flooding devastates eastern Libya Prev Next
‘Smell of death’
More grave diggers are desperately required in Derna, human rights activists said, as they struggled to contain the number of bodies that need burying.
Abu Bakr Al-Rifadi told Libyan state news agency LANA that “the torrent waters caused the city of Derna to be divided into western and eastern halves.”
Ali Al-Ghazali, who runs the Namaa Organization in Derna, said the torrents annihilated at least 25% of the city.
He told CNN the city center – where all the shops, clinics, schools, main roads and historical sites are located – “was the hardest hit.”
“It is totally destroyed. Right now, foreign teams are in the city to try to help. But unfortunately, there are way too many dead bodies in the streets. Now, on the third day, most bodies are decomposing. The smell of death is in the air,” al-Ghazali added.
“I lost relatives in the flooding. My wife’s first cousins. Entire families were killed. My wife is undergoing cancer treatment. After the flooding, we moved her to Benghazi, so that she could continue her treatment.”
Aid slowly arrives
Medical volunteers said they were overwhelmed by the scale of human disaster in Derna, as aid slowly began to arrive on Thursday amid fears of waterborne diseases.
More than 30,000 people have been displaced in Derna, the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Wednesday. Meanwhile bodies piled up near defunct health facilities, despite the need to treat survivors of the disaster.
Khaled Hamid, the general manager at a Libyan NGO, said aid donations were inadequate for the number of people needing treatment.
“The first step was easy, we collected money from equipments and donations from inside and outside the organization. We didn’t expect that people would sympathize with us to this extent, and thank God we received very good support,” Hamid told Reuters.
“This is a drop in the ocean of the needs we need for Derna, but we saw while coming here that people are coming here from different cities of Libya, from Misrata, Tripoli, Zawiya, from every city.”
On Thursday, the marine port into Derna became accessible for ships with a minimum draft level of 6.5 meters to deliver humanitarian aid to the badly damaged area, the Libyan Ports and Maritime Transport Authority said.
A committee has been established to improve operations at the port, the statement said, adding that the primary objective is to expedite the aid delivery to the region.
The Ministry of Transport is led by the internationally recognized government in, Tripoli, in west Libya, led by Dbeibeh.
International leaders from countries including Tunisia, Turkey, Algeria, Italy, and Saudi Arabia pledged donations, but questions remain over how aid will reach parts of Libya controlled by rival forces.
At least $71.4 million is needed to respond to the 884,000 people estimated to be affected by the floods, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Thursday. A combination of pre-existing humanitarian conditions, the dire socio-economic status in Libya and logistical constraints is hampering aid efforts.
The World Health Organization will release $2 million from its emergency fund, according to WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
On Thursday, the World Food Programme said it started distributing food to more than 5,000 families displaced. Earlier this week, at least 2,000 people who had fled from Derna to Benghazi received aid from WFP’s partner LibAid.
Libya’s eastern leader, Osama Hamad, said his government allocated 10 billion Libyan Dinars (almost $2.1 billion) from its emergency budget to support affected regions.
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