“Catastrophic humanitarian situation” in Libya’s flood plains

Rescue teams also face daunting logistical challenges as they race against time and try to find survivors.

“Coordination of aid is urgently needed,” reported the organization Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF) on Friday evening. Your first emergency aid team has been in the city since Thursday. The Red Cross, which has been involved with its local volunteers from the start, made a similar statement. There was a lack of agreement, said the head of operations at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, IFRC.

Lots of volunteers

“There are lots of volunteers from home and abroad,” said Manoelle Carton, MSF medical operations coordinator, according to the organization. “Everyone wants to help, but it’s too much, it becomes chaotic.” There are a lot of resources on site, but to go to the different parts of the city and see what is needed where, you end up stuck in traffic for hours.

“The humanitarian situation in Libya is catastrophic. The needs are greater than the capabilities of all international organizations and local authorities working in Libya,” said the spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Libya, Bashir Omar. An International Red Cross plane took off from Geneva to Benghazi with 5,000 body bags, the organization announced on X (formerly Twitter).

Video: Dramatic situation in Darna

The floods have washed away access roads to the particularly hard-hit port city of Darna, and important bridges are buried under masses of mud. According to experts, unexploded bombs and abandoned ammunition depots could also pose risks. The Red Cross said it was assessing the risk of possible unexploded devices. This is an “additional challenge,” said Omar. Libya, in North Africa, has been mired in civil war for years.

At the same time, concerns about the outbreak of disease are growing given the high number of deaths and the water masses not draining away. Diarrheal cases have been reported several times in Darna, said Haidar al-Saih, head of the National Center for Disease Control.

Problems can arise when bodies are found near water sources, explained Bilal Sabouh. He is responsible for forensics in Africa at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). Leaking bodily fluids could contaminate water sources. Drinking it can cause diarrhea. But as long as bodies do not come into contact with water sources, they are not a health threat, he stressed.

Corpses pose no health risk

WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris also said on Friday: Dead bodies do not pose health risks per se. According to experts, there is also no evidence that unburied deaths contribute to the spread of epidemics. And Pierre Guyomarch from the ICRC’s forensic department made it clear: survivors of such an event are more likely to transmit diseases.

In this context, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned against hastily burying victims in mass graves in the flood areas as well as in Morocco’s earthquake zone. A dignified burial is important for the grieving process and the mental health of family members.

How many victims there were in total remained unclear. Libya’s ICRC spokesman Omar said that given the confusing situation, it was still too early to provide reliable information on deaths and injuries. “The disaster is still unfolding. Rescue operations are ongoing. Therefore, we cannot predict the final number of fatalities or injuries.”

Collapse of two dams

The collapse of two dams, which were presumably not maintained for years, led to massive flooding after Storm Daniel. Meanwhile, warnings were circulating that a third dam east of Benghazi could collapse. However, the government based in the east of the de facto divided country announced that the situation at the two dams Al-Katra and Wadi Jaza was under control.

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