Floods in Libya have killed thousands of people, and the head of the United Nations’ assistance agency stated on Friday that the country required primary medical care as well as equipment to search for survivors who may be stuck in the mud and damaged structures and to prevent an outbreak of cholera among those survivors.
“Priority areas are shelter, food, and key primary medical care because of the worry of cholera and the worry that there is a lack of clean water,” Martin Griffiths said during a briefing held by the United Nations in Geneva. “Priority areas are shelter, food, and key primary medical care.”
According to him, the United Nations Humanitarian Office has already sent a fifteen-person disaster coordination team to Libya. These individuals were previously stationed in Morocco, struck by an earthquake the previous week.
On Sunday night, floods wiped out large portions of Derna, the epicenter of the devastation in the eastern part of the country. The flooding brought down entire buildings as families were sleeping inside of them.
Given that the city of Derna is located on the Mediterranean Sea, Griffiths believes that there is a possibility that the mayor of Derna’s proposal to establish a maritime corridor to distribute relief could be a workable alternative.
“You still keep coming in from the land, you’re finding the people who are fleeing south, fleeing south from Derna, towards aid, away from the cities, so you need to support them as well,” he said. “You’re finding the people who are fleeing south, fleeing south from Derna, towards aid, away from the cities.”
“However, there is no doubt that including a maritime option is a sensible decision.”
