“This is not just a natural disaster”: this is the cause of the flood of deaths in Libya

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Destroyed neighborhoods, mudslides, rubble and thousands of deaths: four days after the devastating floods in eastern Libya, the scale of the disaster became clear on Wednesday. The exact number of deaths is still difficult to determine, a government spokesman said. Hundreds of unidentified bodies were buried in mass graves after more than 2,000 identified victims were buried on Tuesday.

The government fears 9,000 deaths. Bodies are still floating in the sea about 25 kilometers from the coastal town of Derna. The port city has been hit particularly hard after two dams broke during the night from Sunday to Monday, washing entire parts of the city into the Mediterranean Sea.

The dams should have been renovated decades ago

The dams normally hold back the water from the riverbed that flows through Derna. But the dams were not prepared for such a catastrophe. Those responsible knew this exactly, explains political scientist Wolfram Lacher.

There is more to the catastrophe. “It is not just a natural disaster, but an event that is very closely linked to the political situation in Libya,” Lacher said in an interview with ZDF. The dams had long been in disrepair during the time of Muammar al-Gaddafi (1942-2011), who came to power in a coup in 1969.

Lacher: “Gaddafi punished the city for the fact that rebels had taken up arms there in the 1990s. And after the fall of Gaddafi in 2011, no infrastructure investments were made for years.”

Image is more important than actually helping

There was already money for the renovation, but it just wasn’t used for it. Instead, those responsible simply put it in their own pockets.

Things aren’t going any better now either. After the fall of ruler Muammar al-Gaddafi in 2011, Libya plunged into chaos with rival governments now in power in the west and east of the country. General Caliph Khalifa Haftar (79) leads the east of the country. He and his people are notorious for their corruption. “You have to fear that they are mainly concerned with being seen as a source of help and influencing public opinion, and much less with actually doing something concrete.”

Situation is “shocking and dramatic”

Meanwhile, people in the disaster area are suffering. According to the World Weather Organization (WMO), entire neighborhoods disappeared and residents were swept away by the water masses.

The situation in the city is “shocking and dramatic”, says a spokesperson for the local emergency services. Libyan television showed dozens of bodies wrapped in blankets and sheets in the city’s central square. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent feared several thousand deaths across Libya. About 10,000 people are missing. The aid needed far exceeds the capabilities of the Red Cross and the government in Libya, the aid organization’s representative Tamer Ramadan emphasized. (jmh/AFP)

Source: Blick