The UN announced on Monday that its agencies were working to prevent the spread of disease in the flood-stricken Libyan town of Derna, where rescuers are still searching for the bodies of thousands of missing people presumed dead.
In this city of 100,000 inhabitants bordering the Mediterranean in the east of the country, the floods caused on September 10 by the rupture of two dams under the pressure of torrential rains dumped by storm Daniel, caused nearly 3,300 deaths according to the latest provisional official assessment and left a landscape of desolation reminiscent of a battlefield.
International humanitarian organizations and Libyan officials warned, however, that the final toll could be much higher due to the very large number of missing people, estimated at thousands and that Libyan and foreign rescuers were still searching for on Monday.
The Libyan Red Crescent announced that it had set up a platform to record the missing, calling on the population to provide information on those wanted.
The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) explained in a statement that teams from nine UN agencies were present on the ground in Derna and other towns in eastern Libya to provide aid and of support for those affected by storm Daniel “.
“Devastating crisis”
“Local authorities, aid agencies and the WHO (World Health Organization) team are all concerned about the risk of disease spreading, including contaminated water and poor hygiene,” according to the UN.
“The (WHO) team continues to work to prevent the spread of diseases and avoid a second devastating crisis in the region,” the statement added.
Rescuers sent by the United Arab Emirates met on Sunday morning at the port of Derna with their Libyan counterparts to coordinate efforts to recover bodies at sea, according to an AFP correspondent on site.
“It is forbidden to touch the bodies or open the cars submerged underwater,” warns the leader of the Emirati team, addressing his divers.
Other teams of divers sent by Russia and Turkey are active in the same sector.
On Sunday, five members of a Greek rescue team were killed in a road accident shortly after their arrival in eastern Libya to participate in rescue operations, according to a new report from Greek authorities published Monday.
Three members of a Libyan family in the car that collided with the Greek team’s vehicle were also killed and two others seriously injured, according to the Libyan Minister of Health in the East, Othman Abdeljalil.
According to Libyan media, six volunteers from Benghazi, the large city in eastern Libya, also died on Sunday in a road accident while returning from Derna after having distributed aid there.
“Temporary bridge”
Storm Daniel caused the rupture of two dams upstream and caused a flood of tsunami magnitude along the wadi which crosses the city. She took everything in her path.
Daily, dozens of bodies are extracted from the rubble of neighborhoods devastated by floods or washed up by the sea and buried in an apocalyptic landscape.
According to residents, most of the victims were buried under mud or swept towards the Mediterranean.
The organization of relief is made complicated by the political chaos that has reigned in the country since the death during a popular revolt of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011: two governments, one in Tripoli, recognized by the UN, and the Elsewhere in the East, they are vying for power.
Faced with the scale of the disaster, the rival camps seem to have put their quarrels on hold. Significant aid and relief teams were sent from Tripoli to the disaster areas.
The government of Tripoli also announced on Monday the launch of work for the construction of a “temporary bridge” over the wadi which crosses Derna, the two banks of the city having been cut since the waves carried away the four structures which connected them .
The waves submerged an area of 6 km2 densely populated Derna, damaging 1,500 buildings, 891 of which, including multi-story buildings, were “razed to the ground,” according to preliminary estimates from the Tripoli government based on satellite images before and after the tragedy.