"We could have avoided most of the victims": The floods in Libya, a disaster of the post-Gaddafi era

The magnitude of Storm Daniel, which has severely affected the eastern Mediterranean, could have caused fewer deaths and structural damage in Libya if the country had a strong government and infrastructure, experts say. Rescue teams continue working to recover the bodies and expedite the burial process, in an attempt to prevent the spread of diseases due to the decomposition of bodies in stagnant waters.. “Access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene facilities is necessary to avoid a new crisis within a crisis,” Elie Abouaoun, Libya director of the International Rescue Committee, said in a statement.

“Warnings could have been issued and emergency management forces could have carried out evacuations. “We could have avoided the majority of human casualties,” Petteri Taalas, head of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said at a press conference in Geneva.. The organization, a United Nations agency, warned that the magnitude of the disaster is due to the fact that institutions “do not function normally” and that in the past they had tried without success to help the country reform its weather safety system.. “The economic losses could not have been avoided, but they would also have been minimized if appropriate services had been implemented,” he added.

The torrent of water swept away dozens of buildings, vehicles and roads.. Nearly 30,000 people are displaced, a third of the city's population. Its mayor, Abdel Moneim Al-Ghaithi, fears that the death toll could double, even rise to 20,000 dead.. “The situation is very serious and surprising for the city of Derna. “We have not been able to face it with our capabilities,” he told the media.

Derna is a coastal city located in the east of the country. Since 2014, Libya has been divided into two rival administrations in the west and east of the territory.. The western part has its capital in Tripoli, is administered by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, who heads a UN-backed government.. Derna is located in the eastern part, a Tobruk-based entity governed by Osama Hamad. Marshal Khalifa Hafter continues to exert great influence on the eastern government, even meeting with the Egyptian authorities this week to arrange the sending of humanitarian aid.

Libya has had virtually no national government since the 2011 protests that led to the assassination of leader Muammar Gaddafi.. Rival factions have caused clashes for years, until agreeing on a fragile ceasefire in 2020. This division has hindered economic and infrastructure development in the country, creating a situation of great vulnerability to disasters such as the floods of recent days.. The division also slows down the mobilization of resources in a time of emergency. “Lack of coordination has slowed the relief response. The collapsed roads have also made it more difficult for humanitarian aid to enter,” Libya Observer analyst Ahaber Abdulkader Assad told the Turkish channel.. “With two governments it is very difficult to expedite aid. They both ask for help and foreign countries want to send it but they don't know who to coordinate with.. Furthermore, everything has to first go through the Benghazi airport, be approved by the eastern authorities, it is a very slow process,” he describes.

The Western government has sent humanitarian aid to Derna, although there are few occasions in which both entities have come together to make common decisions that concern the country.. The Libyan Central Bank continues to pay salaries to officials of both entities and decisions have been made regarding the oil distribution of the territories, but even these meetings have caused tensions, with the eastern part demanding a greater equal distribution of oil resources.

The city of Derna in particular has not only been the scene of fighting that led to the division of the country, it has also suffered serious negligence in its infrastructure.. The dams that have given way to the flooding of Storm Daniel were built in the 70s and have barely been maintained in recent decades. An academic investigation published last year warned of the urgency of reinforcing these facilities. “If a major flood occurs, the result will be catastrophic for the people of the city,” said its author, Abdelwanees A.Ashoor.