The United Nations said Monday that its agencies are working to prevent the spread of disease in the flood-hit Libyan city of Derna, where rescuers are still searching for the bodies of thousands of missing people who are presumed dead.
• Also read: Libya: Five members of a Greek rescue team killed in an accident
• Also read: Floods in Libya: Death toll in Derna rises to 11,300
In this city of 100,000 people, which borders the Mediterranean in the east of the country, flooding caused on September 10 by the rupture of two dams under the pressure of torrential rain from Storm Daniel almost caused, according to the latest preliminary official estimate 3,300 deaths and left behind a landscape of devastation reminiscent of a battlefield.
However, international humanitarian organizations and Libyan officials warned that the final figure could be much higher due to the very large number of missing people, estimated in the thousands, and that Libyan and foreign rescuers were still mobilizing on Monday.
The Libyan Red Crescent said it had set up a platform to record missing persons and called on the population to provide information about those they were looking for.
The UN Support Mission in Libya (Manul) said in a statement that “teams from nine UN agencies were present on the ground in Derna and other cities in eastern Libya to “provide assistance and support to those affected by Storm Daniel.”
“Devastating crisis”
According to an AFP journalist, bulldozers and workers tried to clear earth from the courtyard of a mosque in the city on Monday amid a disgusting smell.
Opposite, an older woman prays for her children and grandchildren who died in the disaster.
“The World Health Organization team continues to work to prevent the spread of disease and prevent a second devastating crisis in the region,” said the United Nations, whose agencies “are all concerned about the risk of the spread of disease, particularly contaminated ones. “Water and poor hygiene.
“For your safety, it is forbidden to use or drink water from the local network as it is polluted by floods,” the Libyan Center for Disease Control warned.
Rescue workers sent by the United Arab Emirates met with their Libyan counterparts at the port of Derna on Monday morning to coordinate efforts to recover bodies at sea, according to an AFP correspondent on the scene.
“It is forbidden to touch the bodies or open the cars submerged under water,” warns the leader of the Emirati team to his divers.
Other diving teams sent by Russia and Turkey are active in the same sector.
A new report from Athens on Monday said five members of a Greek rescue team died in a road accident on Sunday shortly after taking part in rescue operations.
According to Libyan authorities, three members of a Libyan family also died in the car that collided with the Greek team’s vehicle and two others were seriously injured.
According to the same sources, six volunteers from Benghazi, the large city in the east of the country, died on Sunday in a traffic accident on their way back from Derna.
“Temporary Bridge”
Storm Daniel caused two dams upstream to break, creating a tsunami-sized flood along the wadi that crosses the city. She took on everything that came her way.
Every day, dozens of bodies are recovered from the rubble of neighborhoods ravaged by floods or washed ashore by the sea and buried in an apocalyptic landscape.
Organizing the relief effort is complicated by the political chaos that has reigned in the country since the death of dictator Muammar Gaddafi during a popular revolt in 2011: two governments, one in Tripoli (west), recognized by the United Nations, and the other in the East, competing for power.
Given the scale of the disaster, the rival camps appear to have put their disputes on hold. Significant relief and relief teams were deployed from Tripoli to the disaster areas.
The Tripoli government also announced on Monday the start of work to build a “temporary bridge” across the wadi crossing Derna, as the city’s two banks have been cut as waves have washed away the four structures connecting them.
International aid is also increasing.
According to Egyptian state media, an Egyptian helicopter carrier intended to serve as a field hospital arrived on Sunday with emergency and rescue teams on board.
France, which has deployed a field hospital and sent rescuers to Derna, announced Monday that it would also provide “4 million euros to the United Nations for emergency relief and reconstruction in Libya.”
The European Union, for its part, announced the release of 5.2 million euros for humanitarian aid in the country.