TRIPOLI (The Guardian/DW) – As search and rescue teams continue to hunt for bodies trapped underneath the mud and rubble of their homes in the Libyan coastal city of Derna, observers say the warlord Khalifa Haftar and his sons are using the disaster response as a way to exert control rather than ensure vital humanitarian relief reaches civilians.
At least 11,300 people have died and more than 10,000 are missing, according to the Libyan Red Crescent, after two dams burst during a powerful storm last week.
The resulting floods have completely destroyed almost 900 buildings in Derna, according to the country’s National Unity government, based in the north-western city of Tripoli. More than 200 buildings were partly damaged and almost 400 others were completely submerged in mud, it added, meaning that a quarter of all buildings in Derna had been affected by the flooding.
Desperate rescue efforts continued in an attempt to find any remaining survivors as bodies continued to wash up on the shoreline. First responders on the ground often worked while surrounded by militants from the Libyan National Army, a sprawling military coalition loyal to Haftar, amid what observers described as efforts to keep an iron grip over vital assistance arriving in the crisis-stricken city.
Public access to the centre of Derna, worst-affected by the flooding, has been shut off, and the city has been officially declared a disaster zone. Derna’s citizens are struggling to survive without access to electricity, safe drinking water or food.
Late last week, the head of Libya’s parliament based in the east, Osama Hamad, said the authorities were considering sealing off the entire city, which once housed 100,000 people, fearing the spread of water-borne diseases.
Residents who survived the devastating flooding were faced with the threat of displaced landmines in surrounding areas on Sunday.
Residents said they had to think whether to wade through areas where landmines were displaced by raging torrents that swept away entire families in the wake of this week’s floods.
Many had to travel through the areas because they didn’t have fresh water in their homes as the flooding contaminated local water sources. On Saturday, a local official reported at least 150 cases of diarrhea.
“Under all circumstances in Derna, it is not allowed to use ordinary drinking water because its contamination percentage is very high,” Director of Libya’s National Centre for Disease Control Haider al-Sayeh said in a video statement.
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.