Aid groups warn of ‘second humanitarian crisis’ in Libya as hopes fade for flood survivors

DERNA, Libya – Aid groups are warning of a growing risk of disease in the wake of deadly flooding that hit eastern Libya on Sept 10.

Hopes are meanwhile dwindling of finding more survivors after torrential rain triggered by a hurricane-strength storm hit the area.

The flood

submerged the port city of Derna,

washing thousands of people and homes out to sea.

The disaster struck after two upstream dams burst under the pressure of the deluge.

Conflicting death tolls have been reported.

The latest issued on Saturday by Mr Othman Abdeljalil, health minister of the eastern-based administration, put the number of lives lost at 3,166.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the bodies of 3,958 people have been recovered and identified, with 9,000 more still missing.

“This is a disaster of epic proportions,” said Mr Ahmed Zouiten, the WHO’s representative in Libya. “We are saddened by the unspeakable loss of thousands of souls.”

The WHO announced that 29 tonnes of health supplies had arrived in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.

An AFP correspondent also saw two aid-laden planes, one from the United Arab Emirates and another from Iran, land in Benghazi, more than 300km west of Derna.

A steady stream of vehicles was seen trickling into Derna on a makeshift road as diggers toiled to shift rubble near an apartment block with a missing facade.

In Al-Bayda, 100km west of Derna, locals had already begun cleanup efforts, working to clear roads and homes of the mounds of mud left behind by the deluge.

Aid organisations such as Islamic Relief and Doctors Without Borders have meanwhile warned that the upcoming period could see the spread of disease, as well as grave difficulties in delivering aid to those most in need.

Islamic Relief warned of a second humanitarian crisis after the flood, pointing to the growing risk of waterborne diseases and shortages of food, shelter and medicine.

“Thousands of people don’t have anywhere to sleep and don’t have food,” Mr Salah Aboulgasem, the organisation’s deputy director of partner development, said of Derna.

“In conditions like this, diseases can quickly spread as water systems are contaminated,” he added. “The city smells like death. Almost everyone has lost someone they know.”

‘Over 1.2 million affected’

Doctors Without Borders meanwhile said it was deploying teams to the east to assess water and sanitation.

“With this type of event, we can really worry about water-related disease,” said Mr Manoelle Carton, Doctors Without Borders’ medical coordinator in Derna, who described efforts to coordinate aid as “chaotic”.

But the Red Cross and the WHO pointed out that contrary to widespread belief, the bodies of victims of natural disasters rarely pose a health threat.

An AFP journalist in Derna said central neighbourhoods on either side of the river, which normally dries up at this time of year, looked as if a steam roller had passed through, uprooting trees and buildings and hurling vehicles onto the port’s breakwaters.

A spokesman for the east-based Libyan National Army, Mr Ahmed al-Mesmari, said on Friday night that the flood had affected more than 1.2 million people.

“Everything was washed away... The waters have completely cut off the roads in these regions,” he added.

In a social media post, Ms Stephanie Williams, a United States diplomat and former United Nations envoy to Libya, urged global mobilisation to coordinate aid efforts in the wake of the flood.

She warned of the “predilection of Libya’s predatory ruling class to use the pretext of ‘sovereignty’ and ‘national ownership’ to steer such a process on their own and in a self-interested manner”.

Civilian access blocked

The UN launched an appeal for more than US$71 million (S$97 million) to assist hundreds of thousands in need, and warned that the extent of the problem remains unclear.

In Geneva on Friday, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths also called for coordination between Libya’s two rival administrations – the UN-backed, internationally recognised government in Tripoli, and one based in the disaster-hit east.

The head of the eastern-based government, Mr Oussama Hamad, said that from Saturday, new measures will be applied in the disaster zone to search for bodies and any survivors.

The area would be closed off to civilians and security services, he said, adding that only Libyan and foreign search teams and investigators will have access.

The scale of the devastation has given way to shows of solidarity, as volunteers in Tripoli gathered aid for the flood victims in the east.

“Everyone in Tripoli is mobilised, and they’re bringing us goods. Tomorrow, we hope that aid will be sent to Derna,” said Mr Mohamed Omar Benour, one of the volunteers. “We hope everything goes well, and may God help everyone.”

Spokesman Tawfik Shoukri said on Friday that teams from the Libyan Red Crescent were still searching for possible survivors and clearing bodies from the rubble in the most damaged areas of Derna.

Other teams were trying to deliver much-needed aid to families in the eastern part of the city, which had been spared the worst of the flooding but was cut off by road, he added.

He pointed to the “very high” level of destruction in the city, but refused to give figures for the number of victims.

The International Organisation for Migration meanwhile said more than 38,640 people had been left homeless in eastern Libya, 30,000 of them in Derna alone. AFP