Libya's flood-ravaged Derna struggles to cope with thousands of corpses
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[September 16, 2023]
By Ahmed Elumami, Ayman al-Warfali and Emma Farge
DERNA, Libya/GENEVA (Reuters) - Residents and rescue workers in the
devastated Libyan city of Derna are struggling to cope with the
thousands of corpses washing up or decaying under rubble, after a flood
that smashed down buildings and swept people to sea.
The World Health Organization and other aid groups urged authorities in
Libya to stop burying flood victims in mass graves, saying these could
bring long-term mental distress to families or cause health risks if
located near water.
A U.N. report said more than 1,000 people had so far been buried in that
manner since Libya, a nation divided by a decade of conflict and
political chaos, was hit on Sunday by torrential rain that caused two
dams to burst.
Thousands were killed and thousands more are missing.
"Bodies are littering the streets, washing back on shore, and are buried
under collapsed buildings and debris. In just two hours, one of my
colleagues counted over 200 bodies on the beach near Derna," Bilal
Sablouh, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) forensics
manager for Africa, told a briefing in Geneva.
Ibrahim al-Arabi, health minister in Libya's Tripoli-based western
government, told Reuters he was certain groundwater was polluted with
water mixed up with corpses, dead animals, refuse and chemical
substances. "We urge people not to approach the wells in Derna," he
said.
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Mohammad al-Qabisi, head of Derna's Wahda Hospital, said a field
hospital was treating people with chronic illnesses needing regular
attention. He said there were fears waterborne diseases would spread,
but no cholera had been recorded so far.
Swathes of Derna, centrepoint of the destruction in Libya's east, were
obliterated when the dams above the city broke, and the flood that swept
down a usually dry riverbed brought down whole residential blocks while
families were asleep.
The International Organization for Migration mission in Libya said more
than 5,000 people were presumed dead, with 3,922 deaths registered in
hospitals, and over 38,640 were displaced in the flood-stricken region.
The true death toll could be far higher, officials say.
"We should be afraid of an epidemic," 60-year-old Nouri Mohamed said, at
a bakery offering loaves for free. "There are still bodies underground
... Now there are corpses starting to smell."
The U.N. health agency together with the ICRC and International
Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies called for
burials to be managed better.
"We urge authorities in communities touched by tragedy to not rush
forward with mass burials or mass cremations," Kazunobu Kojima, medical
officer for biosafety and biosecurity in the WHO's Health Emergencies
Program, said in the statement.
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![](../images/091623PIX/news_g4.jpg)
A view shows the destruction, in the aftermath of the floods in
Derna, Libya September 16, 2023. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-fetori
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It called for individual graves, demarcated and documented, saying
that hasty interments could lead to mental anguish for families as
well as social and legal problems.
The bodies of victims of trauma from natural disasters "almost
never" posed a health threat, it said, unless they were in or near
fresh water supplies since corpses may leak excrement.
DEALING WITH THE DEAD
A doctor in Derna said this week that photos were being taken of
unidentified bodies before burial, in case relatives could identify
them later on.
Thursday's U.N. report said more than 1,000 bodies in Derna and over
100 in Al Bayda, another coastal city hit by flooding, had been
buried in mass graves.
The Norwegian Refugee Council, which has a team of 100 in Libya,
said dead body management was the most pressing concern.
"I've heard from my team that there are mass graves where rescue
workers were appealing: 'Don't bring us food, don’t bring us water,
bring us body bags'," the NRC's Ahmed Bayram said.
The ICRC sent a cargo flight to Benghazi, eastern Libya's largest
city, on Friday with 5,000 body bags. Other aid has also been coming
in from abroad.
The Danish Refugee Council said it was sending a team of explosives
disposal experts because of the risk of landmines being dislodged by
flooding.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said his country, which has already
sent three aircraft and a ship with supplies, had now sent two
amphibious landing ships carrying 122 vehicles including ambulances
and rescue vehicles.
Some residents were frustrated that Libya's own fractured
authorities were not acting faster.
"The state is no of use to us," said Saad Rajab Mohamed al-Hasi, a
50-year-old security officer who lives in Susah, a town about 60 km
(38 miles) away that was also damaged by flooding. "Now I’m in the
street with my children and wife."
U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths told the Geneva briefing that Libya
needed equipment to find people trapped in sludge and damaged
buildings, as well as primary health care to prevent a cholera
outbreak.
(Reporting by Ahmed Elumami and Ayman al-Warfali in Derna, Laila
Bassam in Beirut, Emma Farge in Geneva, Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber,
Nayera Abdallah; writing by Mark Heinrich and William Maclean;
editing by Edmund Blair and Timothy Gardner)
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