Hundreds rescued in Libya and UN organization: evacuation would have reduced the number of victims

A United Nations organization said on Thursday that it was possible to reduce losses in Libya due to floods that hit the east of the country and have so far left 5300,<> dead and thousands missing, while the Libyan House of Representatives approved a budget of two billion dollars to cope with the effects of floods.

WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas told a news conference in Geneva that such a number of casualties could have been avoided if the country had a meteorological body capable of issuing warnings.

The UN official's remarks came days after Storm Daniel hit eastern Libya, which resulted in very heavy rains that caused the collapse of two dams near the city of Derna, and the water swept the city, sweeping buildings, including them.

"The floods occurred and there was no evacuation due to the lack of proper early warning systems," Taalas said, noting that the evacuation would have greatly reduced the number of victims.

Libya's National Meteorological Centre issued early weather warnings 72 hours before the cyclone arrived, notified government authorities via email, calling for preventive measures, but the World Meteorological Organization said it was "not clear whether (the warnings) were effectively circulated".

For his part, an official of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent told Al Jazeera that the Libyan Red Crescent teams have reached all the affected areas, noting that these teams seek to reach each survivor and transfer him as quickly as possible to safe areas. He also stressed the need to provide water to ensure that diseases do not spread.

Latest Statistics

In the latest developments, the Libyan authorities announced that rescue teams managed to rescue at least 500 people from the rubble of collapsed buildings due to the floods that wiped out neighborhoods and bridges from the map and caused widespread destruction in the road network in the city of Derna and its vicinity, while local and foreign rescue teams are intensifying their efforts in search of survivors and the recovery and burial of bodies scattered in the city.

The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health in the Government of National Unity, Saad Eddin Abdel Wakeel, announced that local and international rescue teams were able to rescue 510 people from the rubble in the city of Derna, noting that rescue operations and the recovery of bodies are still ongoing and need some time due to the presence of thousands of missing people.

There are many areas, including Sousse, al-Mukhili and al-Wardiya (east), that need urgent intervention, he said, so the focus will be on them in the coming hours by sending medical teams, aid and rescue personnel.

For his part, Interior Minister in the government mandated by the Libyan parliament Essam Bouzriba told Al Jazeera that 2958,<> bodies of flood victims have been recovered so far, and that a higher emergency committee has been formed to implement the decisions of the House of Representatives.

Earlier, Gilles Carbonnet, vice-president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, told Al Jazeera that 3 members of the Libyan Red Crescent were killed while helping the afflicted.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Libya also said that floods in Derna led to the transfer of remnants of war to all affected areas, noting that the risk of confronting explosive remnants of war is widespread throughout the city of Derna.

Two billion dollars

The spokesman for the Libyan House of Representatives said that a budget of two billion dollars has been approved to face the effects of the floods, and added at a press conference that there is coordination with the Central Bank to provide the amounts allocated to face the consequences of the disaster.

For his part, the head of Libya's national unity government, Abdul Hamid Dabaiba, said that the situation of dams in the country was neglected and did not receive enough attention from the authorities until after the floods.

Dabaiba stressed that his government will work to establish a special department for dams to monitor them in Libya and alert citizens in case of disasters.

Dabaiba said the dams that collapsed in Derna were built according to old standards and that climate change must be accommodated and that it has to be worked to accommodate climate change that has increased the frequency of crises worldwide.

He stressed that he had addressed the Attorney General to open an urgent investigation into the circumstances of the incident and directed the concerned agencies to cooperate fully in this.

On the other hand, Al Jazeera correspondent reported the arrival of a ministerial delegation from the Government of National Unity, headed by the Minister of Local Government and Chairman of the Emergency Committee, to eastern Libya, on its way to the city of Al-Bayda, and from there to the city of Derna.

The spokesman for the Ministry of Interior of the Libyan unity government told Al Jazeera that the floods washed away several roads leading to the city of Derna, stressing that Libya has not faced such a disaster for nearly 70 years.

He added that there is congestion at the gates of the city of Derna due to the large number of aid, and work is underway to facilitate the passage of aid convoys to the city.

Thorough investigation

In turn, the head of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohammed al-Menfi, said he asked the attorney general to open a comprehensive investigation into the incidents of floods that swept the city of Derna, and to hold accountable all those who erred or neglected to refrain or take actions that resulted in the collapse of the city's dams, as he put it.

A spokesman for Libya's lower house of parliament said there was coordination with the central bank to provide funds allocated to cope with the consequences of the disaster.

Benghazi MP Khalifa al-Daghari appealed to Egypt and Algeria to send teams of divers to retrieve bodies scattered on the beaches of the affected areas, he said.

Al-Daghari stressed – in statements to Al Jazeera – the urgent need to support hospitals in the affected areas, pointing to the shortage of medicines in these areas.

A real disaster

Images – broadcast by the Libyan channel "Al-Wataniya" on social media platforms – showed a real disaster that befell the city of Derna, where streets are destroyed, trees uprooted, buildings collapsed, and people lifting the covers from the bodies lying on the sidewalk to try to identify them.

A Libyan photographer also posted on his Facebook page aerial footage showing widespread destruction in the city of Derna after the floods that hit it and left thousands of victims dead and missing.

The photographer posted footage he took earlier on the first of this month of the city a few days before the floods, in a way that shows the extent of the destruction they have inflicted on the city.

The city is now only accessible via two (out of 7) entrances to the south, has been widely cut off from power and disrupted its communications network, according to the International Organization for Migration.