Dr. Anas Bargheti, coordinator of the mortuary in Derna, Libya, has been working in terrible conditions since early Monday morning. “We spent some very difficult days, surrounded by many bodies, without electricity, without refrigerators, without communication and with a terrible smell,” says the doctor. “It was a disaster. But now the situation is starting to improve.” For almost a week, Barghethi has been in charge of the site where the bodies recovered from under the rubble and on the coast after Storm Daniel swept through Libya are being stored. Given Due to the threat of a cholera pandemic, the Ministry of Health decided last Thursday that no more bodies will be preserved. Since then, as soon as the remains of the victims are found, a DNA test will be carried out and they will be buried.
According to estimates by the authorities, the floods have already claimed 20,000 victims, including dead and missing people. “My biggest fear was that there could be outbreaks of infectious diseases in the coming months. But the arrival of international support with experience in such scenarios has reassured us. We receive medical care and medicines from all health centers in Libya and other countries. “What we need now are vaccines.” Bargheti must not waste a second. He hasn’t slept a few hours for a week, as evidenced by the red shadow in his eyes. Their greatest concern is the psychological impact of this humanitarian crisis on the survivors.
“In the first few days we saw that people were not crying. They were in a state of shock, in a state of denial, including the children. “We need psychologists to help them deal with this trauma,” he concludes, before getting into an ambulance and driving it to the University Hospital, where they also treat those affected by the flood, which after two dams formed part of Derna has devastated. It will collapse due to poor maintenance and torrential rains.
At the entrance to the hospital center, two young people are being treated on stretchers. One of them suffered a bruised stomach when part of a flood-damaged building collapsed. The other broke his leg. “There are hardly any wounded left. They were all treated. The biggest problem right now is the psychological state of a population that has lost everything: family, neighbors, home, work, everything. We know that mental health is always an open topic, but in this context it is crucial,” explains Dr. Arkham Omer Melkauri, emergency humanitarian response coordinator at this medical complex.
Sitting next to their houses
A tour of the center of Derna confirms the fears of Bargheti and Melkauri. Men like Faisal sit next to their former house for hours. “When the flooding started, my wife and I, with my two-year-old daughter and our two-month-old baby, went up floor by floor to the fifth, where the roof is. From there we saw how many of our neighbors died,” he says in a quiet voice.
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“Buildings disappeared around us. Our good friends lived in the house across the street. They all died. They were a family of seven.” Faisal spent two days searching for them in the rubble before giving up. Imagine that they were washed into the sea like hundreds of other people. “They had a two-month-old baby. “I can’t think of anything other than her.” Faisal came to Libya ten years ago, fleeing the war in Syria.
Around him, other men drag themselves around in flip-flops, their feet covered in mud. They are looking for something to rescue from the ruins. Mohammed managed to find a bag with family documents. But what relieved him the most was that he took a few of his daughters’ toy plastic bags and perfume cans. Until a week ago, he made a living driving a truck, which, like almost everything else in this central part of the city, has also disappeared. Now he trusts God with his future and that of his family.
Abd Al Razeq, who lost his father and his entire paternal family with whom he lived, listens carefully. “My mother is with a friend on the outskirts of Derna. And I spend the day wandering around here in case I can help someone. “I sleep wherever my friends and acquaintances invite me,” he explains in an automated tone. If there is something he has to say, it is this plea: “We always knew that our city was built on the channel of the dams and that it was very dangerous.” Now that it needs to be rebuilt, I ask the engineers “To pay attention to safety.” Looking around, it’s hard to imagine that a disaster of this magnitude could happen again.
On the adjacent street, a truck drives forward, emitting white smoke that is supposed to disinfect the air and mask the smell of decay. The effect only lasts a few seconds. In fact, the military is distributing masks at the city entrance and at several checkpoints and asking pedestrians to wear them.
Rescue teams are transporting victims of the disaster in Derna this Saturday. STRINGER (EFE)
International search
In one corner, young Red Cross volunteers rest on a mound of sifted earth while excavators that have recently arrived in the city clear away the rubble blocking access to the buildings. Rescue and recovery teams from numerous countries monitor the work of the machines in case they find new bodies. After a week of piecework, Derna ceases to be a large mass grave.
Dozens of Picap vehicles carry migrants from sub-Saharan Africa from one part of the city to another carrying out cleaning and garbage collection tasks. Exhausted men crowd the roundabouts to collect food, clothing, blankets and water for the distribution of humanitarian aid that is arriving in every neighborhood of the city. There are hardly any women and the few who approach these points cannot or do not want to speak. It is the men who accompany them who bear their witness.
On the coast, rescue teams are having increasing problems recovering the remains of the victims of this humanitarian disaster. Although Army helicopters and drones continually search the coast, the advanced state of decomposition makes collection difficult and increases the risk of disease transmission. A week after Storm Daniel changed everything in this area of Libya, the Darne Sea is still a dark brown, almost black color.
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