A bulldozer clears debring from the street in Libya’s eastern city of Soussa on September 15, 2023, after the Mediterranean storm “Daniel”. AFPPIX: Aid groups have warned of growing risk posed by the spread of disease that could compound the humanitarian crisis in Libya, as hopes of finding more survivors fade days after deadly flooding.
Aid organisations like Islamic Relief and Doctors Without Borders have warned that the upcoming period could see the spread of disease as well as grave difficulties in delivering aid to those most in need. “In conditions like this, diseases can quickly spread as water systems are contaminated,“ he added. “The city smells like death. Almost everyone has lost someone they know.”“With this type of event we can really worry about water-related disease,“ said Manoelle Carton, MSF’s medical coordinator in Derna, who described efforts to coordinate aid as “chaotic”.
She warned of the “predilection of Libya’s predatory ruling class to use the pretext of ‘sovereignty’ and ‘national ownership’ to steer such a process on their own and in a self-interested manner”. “We don’t know the extent of the problem,“ UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said Friday in Geneva, as he called for coordination between Libya’s two rival administrations -- the UN-backed, internationally recognised government in Tripoli, and one based in the disaster-hit east.