Flooding in Terna, Libya: More than 43,000 people displaced

More than 43,000 people have been displaced following deadly floods that have wreaked havoc in eastern Libya, particularly the city of Terna, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations (UN) said on Thursday, September 21.

IOM calculates “Floods Displace 43,059 in Northeast Libya”In its latest report on the situation in eastern Libya after the devastating storm Daniel on the night of September 10-11.

According to the latest provisional official report by Eastern Health Minister Othman Abdeljalil on Tuesday evening, 3,351 people have died in the floods. The UN said 3,922 people died. As for the data on missing persons, they are approximate. The Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross Societies, for its part, report several “big” deaths and 10,000 missing.

Bodies were found

In Terna, rescuers are working to find the bodies of the missing, especially in the sea, where entire neighborhoods have been swept away by the waves.

On Thursday, September 21, the Tripoli-based government announced that security services had found the bodies in an area about a hundred kilometers further west between Derna and El-Beida. According to the same source, a map of the locations of the bodies was provided to the emergency services to recover them.

A team from Abu Dhabi Police, experts in identifying disaster victims, arrived in the eastern part of the country on Thursday. It includes specialists and experts in forensic medicine, DNA and fingerprints, its head, Isa Ahmad al-Awati, told reporters.

According to the IOM, “Many of the displaced people have been forced to leave Terna for other cities in the east and west due to lack of access to water.”.

Libyan authorities have asked the townspeople to no longer use water from the local distribution network.

The UN announced earlier this week that its agencies, particularly the World Health Organization (WHO), “Prevent the spread of disease and avoid a second catastrophic crisis in the region”Warning of danger from “Contaminated water and unsanitary conditions”.

Need water, food and psychological support

Relating to the urgent needs of displaced people “Food, Water, Mental Health and Psychological Support”Added IOM.

Also, Libyan authorities announced that telecommunications networks had been restored overnight in Terna from Wednesday to Thursday after a twenty-four-hour strike. Links were cut on Tuesday, and journalists were asked to leave the stricken city the day after a demonstration by Terna residents demanding accountability from authorities in the east of the country responsible for the disaster.

Officials have mentioned a “Degradation of Optical Fibers”, but according to analysts and internet users, the cut was a deliberate attempt to impose a blackout after extensive media coverage of the demonstration the previous day. Abdel Hamid Dibeba, Prime Minister of the UN-recognized and Tripoli-based government, announced his role. His account (formerly Twitter) The return of telecommunications in the city indicates that technicians have succeeded in re-installing a new fiber optic connection.

Wracked by divisions since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya is ruled by two competing administrations: one in Tripoli (west), Mr. The other in the east, led by Dibeba, was embodied by Parliament and aligned with the powerful Marshall’s camp. Khalifa Haftar.

The chaos in the country has delayed the maintenance of key infrastructure such as the Terna dams, which ruptured in 1998.

The Libyan Attorney General, al-Sediq al-Zor, who is in charge of the investigation into the tragedy, gave the assurance. “Quick Results”, in an interview on Libyan television Libya Al-Ahrar on Wednesday evening. He further informed that the culprits are said to have acted corruptly or negligently in connection with this disaster “already identified”Without revealing any names.