The city of Derna, Libya was erased by a flood earlier this month. This tragedy was brought on by the absence of a government that cares about infrastructure or people.
Derna is a city in eastern Libya of about 90,000 residents. After a long, hot summer, its soil was baked solid. So when it received over 16 inches of rain in a 24-hour period on September 10-11, the soil could not absorb the water. In addition, two dams, which lay in hills above the city, gave way, flooding the town. Between 4,000 and 11,000 people died (estimates vary widely). Many residents say political incompetence made the catastrophe far worse than it had to be. Derna, and the rest of eastern Libya, is ruled by Gen. Khalifa Hifter, the head of a coalition of factions known as the Libyan National Army. Hifter took the city of Derna from Islamic militants in 2019, but the battle destroyed much of the city, and it has not been rebuilt. The dams above Derna were a half-century old. They had deteriorated so badly that, last year, inspectors said the dams might fail if massive flooding occurred.
In 2011, a NATO-led an offensive removed Libya’s then-president Muammar Gaddafi. After Gaddafi’s fall, warring tribes and militias ran the country. A civil war raged from 2014 to 2020. In the end, two governments emerged—one in the east and one in the west. During the war, much of the country’s infrastructure was destroyed, but rebuilding has not been a priority of either government. Fiefdoms do not have elections to hold leaders accountable—they rule by the gun.
The primary focus now is to prevent widespread disease from contaminated water and a lack of sanitation. Foreign rescue teams look for bodies and the EU released over 5 million euros in humanitarian aid. Though appreciative of the aid, most Libyans are bitter about the Europe’s involvement in their country. When it removed Gaddafi twelve years ago, it ushered in an era of political corruption, then disappeared when help was needed most. The lesson is clear: if you’re going to intervene in a country’s civil war, plan on hanging around to pick up the broken pieces when it’s over.
Source:
Ruby Mellen, Laris Karklis, Samuel Granados, Julia Ledur, Dan Stillman, “From Natural to Man-made, these Factors Made Libya’s Floods so Deadly,” Washington Post, 17 September 2023, A16.
Ishaan Thardoor, “There’s No Shortage of Places to Assign Blame for the Catastrophe in Libya,” Washington Post, 17 September 2023, A21.
“UN Warns Libya Could Face ‘Second Devastating Crisis’ if Disease Spreads in Decimated Derna,” CBS News, 18 September 2023; accessed from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/libya-flooding-death-toll-un-disease-warning-derna/
Photo: Reuters