The United Nations has made available 10 million dollars (9.3 million euros, at the current exchange rate) to buy aid for victims of the floods in Libya, the organization announced this Thursday.
The funds were released immediately to save lives and avoid a health crisis that could arise from the high number of unburied bodies, lack of drinking water or other factors.
“The rapid restoration of some form of normality must take priority over all other concerns at this difficult time for Libya,” said UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths.
The floods left more than 6,870 dead and 10,000 missing, according to updated reports from Libyan authorities, but a local mayor admitted that the death toll could rise to 20,000.
“Entire neighborhoods were wiped off the map. Entire families, taken by surprise, were swept away by the deluge. Thousands of people died, tens of thousands were left homeless and many more are still missing,” Griffiths said.
The UN will send a team to Libya to help coordinate the international response, he added, according to the Spanish agency EFE.
The floods that affected eastern Libya, and in particular the city of Derna, were caused by a cyclone and the subsequent collapse of two dams.
The International Committee of the Red Cross announced today that it will provide medicine, food and body bags to support the response to the tragedy, which the organization’s local head called “a violent and brutal catastrophe.”
“A wave seven meters high destroyed buildings and pushed infrastructure into the water,” said Yann Fridez, according to the Spanish agency Europa Press.
“Now there are missing relatives, bodies washed ashore and houses destroyed. The city [de Derna] is facing immense emotional trauma,” he added.
The director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, also stated today that the agency immediately made available two million dollars (1.8 million euros) to finance relief operations in Libya.
Tedros considered that the floods caused “a calamity of epic proportions” in Libya.
“The death toll continues to rise, while the needs of the survivors are increasingly urgent,” he stated, quoted by EFE.
The World Meteorological Organization said most of the deaths could have been avoided if the North African country had had a functioning weather service issuing warnings about natural hazards.
Libya has been divided between two rival administrations for more than a decade: one in the east and one in the west, each supported by different militias and countries.
The conflict has left the oil-rich country in chaos, with disintegrated and inadequate infrastructure.
The president of the African Development Bank (ADB) group, the Nigerian Akinwumi Adesina, promised today that the institution “will do everything in its power” to help Libya, but without providing any type of support.
Adesina considered that the tragedy “underlines the need for urgent reconstruction to protect lives and guarantee livelihoods” in Libya.
The ADB group includes 54 African and 27 non-African countries, including Portugal.
Source: TSF
