Climate change may have been the leading cause of Storm Daniel, a Mediterranean cyclone that made landfall in eastern Libya and dumped one metre of rainfall there in a single day.
But the sad reality is that the apocalyptic disaster that struck the city of Derna was avoidable. Despite Libya’s wealth, many thousands of ordinary people have paid for the country’s endemic neglect and corruption with their lives. The deluge proved deadly in just seconds, uprooting apartment buildings and washing away roads and bridges. The number of dead in Derna could exceed 20,000.
As usually happens after such catastrophic disasters, politicians rush to give the impression they are in control of the situation and will hold accountable anyone found guilty of gross negligence. Libya’s general prosecutor, Al-Sediq al-Sour, told a news conference: “I reassure citizens that whoever made mistakes or negligence, prosecutors will certainly take firm measures, file a criminal case against him and send him to trial.” Libya has been a nation in chaos since the 2011 Arab Spring uprising and since then has been divided between rival administrations.
According to international reports, experts had long warned that floods would endanger the two dams meant to protect 90,000 people from flash floods in the northeast of the country. They repeatedly called for immediate maintenance but their calls went unheeded by successive governments, despite money being allocated for the purpose.
The Libyan authorities had ample warning about Storm Daniel. When the Derna mayor reportedly asked Khalifa Haftar, the powerful warlord behind the East Libya government, to help evacuate the city, he was reportedly ignored. Even as water rose behind the dams, no one was told to flee. The East Libya government has suspended Derna’s mayor pending an investigation.
Activists trying to end Libya’s corrupt political regimes call for an international probe, fearing a local investigation would be fruitless in a country ruled mainly by armed groups and militias. A United Nations panel of experts concluded that the “predatory” behaviour of Libyan militias has resulted in “the misappropriation of Libyan State funds and the deterioration of institutions and infrastructure”.
Malta did its small part to show solidarity with the Libyan people. Caritas organised a fundraising activity on behalf of the Church in Malta. The Civil Protection Department and the Armed Forces of Malta sent a 73-person rescue team to aid rescue efforts in the flattened town. These are humanitarian gestures that characterise the good neighbourly relations between the two countries.
It is indeed encouraging that emergency response teams and relief goods have also been deployed from France, Iran, Russia, Tunisia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, with more on the way from multiple other European and Arab nations.
Still, all these nations must also be committed to helping Libyan rights activists and NGOs push forward their demand for an independent international committee to “uncover the causes of this catastrophe” and hold those responsible accountable.
This will not be an easy task. Some experts in Libyan political affairs believe that an investigation would face towering challenges since it could finger top officials in the west and east of Libya.
So far, EU efforts to encourage North African leaders to create a better environment for their citizens to prosper have not been very successful.
The EU must continue with its efforts to deal with the instability in most North African countries. This is crucial not only to reduce the pressure of illegal migration but also to show solidarity with ordinary people suffering because of their political leaders’ corruption and ineptitude – of which the Derna disaster is a monumentally tragic symbol.