Residents who survived devastating floods in the town of Derna on Libya’s east coast faced the threat of landmines moving into surrounding areas on Sunday.
Residents said they were faced with the question of whether to walk through areas where landmines were displaced by raging torrents that swept away entire families following this week’s floods.
Many had to pass through these areas because they had no fresh water at home, as flooding contaminated local water sources. On Saturday, a local official reported at least 150 cases of diarrhea.
“Under any circumstances in Derna, it is not allowed to use ordinary drinking water because its contamination percentage is very high,” said the director of the Libyan National Center for Disease Control, Haider al-Sayeh, in a video statement.
The Reuters news agency reported that flooding is believed to have affected around a quarter of all buildings in Derna, with at least 891 buildings having been completely destroyed and 398 submerged in mud.
Thousands of deaths
Rescue efforts continue to search for survivors in the rubble after a devastating storm destroyed two dams in Derna on Sunday.
The death toll is in the thousands, with aid groups citing different figures. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said at least 11,300 people had died so far in the floods and more than 10,000 people were missing in Derna.
These figures have been disputed by Libyan Red Crescent authorities, and it is unclear how many people lost their lives in the floods, given the scale of the destruction and the political situation in the country.
The oil-rich North African country has been plagued by unrest since the overthrow of longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The country is divided between rival administrations in the East and West and these administrations have no history of successful cooperation.
A number of countries, including Egypt, Germany, Israel and Russia, have sent aid, but their delivery has also been hampered due to widespread road destruction.
UN agencies have repeatedly highlighted concerns about a lack of basic necessities among residents and warned of the risk of an outbreak.
The UN said at least 1,000 people had been buried so far. In Derna, bodies wrapped in bags piled up in the streets as authorities rushed to bury them.
Most of the deaths could have been avoided if authorities had put in place better warning systems, the United Nations weather agency said earlier this week.
Greek rescue workers killed
Later on Sunday, it was announced that four Greek rescue workers subsequently sent to Libya had been killed in a road accident on Sunday, Tripoli’s health minister said.
Rescuers from Greece, Turkey, Egypt and other countries flocked to the port city to offer help.
On Sunday, a bus carrying 19 Greek rescue workers collided head-on with a vehicle carrying five Libyan nationals on the road between the towns of Benghazi and Derna, Health Minister Othman Abduljaleel said. Three Libyans who were in the oncoming vehicle were also killed.
Seven of the surviving Greek rescuers were in critical condition in hospital, the minister said.
Investigation into dam failure
Authorities have opened an investigation into the collapse of two dams which released a huge torrent of water into Derna.
Minister Osama Hammad, appointed by the House of Representatives to lead the investigation, said the probe would look into how money intended for dam maintenance had been mismanaged.
Questions have also been raised over reports of two cracks in one of the dams, the existence of which was known as early as 1998.
ab, rm, jsi/sms (AFP, dpa, Reuters)
