Floods have caused tens of thousands of deaths! Libyan mayor suspended from office
Hurricane Daniel made landfall along the eastern Mediterranean coast of Libya on the 10th and caused flooding. Two dams collapsed at night, causing heavy casualties, and many victims were washed away by floods while sleeping. The latest data from the Libyan Red Crescent Society shows that floods have resulted in 11300 deaths and over 10000 people missing in Derna so far.
Libyan Attorney General Sidiq Sur said he has started investigating the reasons for the collapse of two dams in the eastern city of Derna during floods. Suer said that cracks appeared in these two dams more than 20 years ago.
Some analysts say that this investigation may involve senior officials from both the eastern and western regimes in Liberia.
The mayor is under investigation
At a press conference held in Delna on the evening of the 15th, Sur said that the prosecutor's office has launched an investigation into the collapse of the dam, with investigators from different regions of Libya, covering issues such as the flow of funds for dam repair.
Sur promised the citizens, "Regardless of who committed a mistake or dereliction of duty, the prosecution will take strong measures to initiate a criminal investigation and transfer them to trial."
A Libyan television station quoted a report released by the city government of Derna on the 14th that the mayor of Derna, Abdul Munem Ghasi, has been suspended and is under investigation.
The two collapsed dams, Abu Mansour Dam and Bilad Dam, were both built in the 1970s, 13 kilometers and 1 kilometer away from Delna, respectively, with storage capacities of 22.5 million cubic meters and 1.5 million cubic meters.
Hurricane Daniel made landfall along the eastern Mediterranean coast of Libya on the 10th and caused flooding. The two dams mentioned above collapsed at night, causing heavy casualties, and many victims were washed away by floods while sleeping. The latest data from the Libyan Red Crescent Society shows that floods have resulted in 11300 deaths and over 10000 people missing in Derna so far.
According to the Associated Press, local officials ordered people to evacuate coastal areas on the 9th to prevent seawater flooding, but did not warn people that the dam may collapse.
The dam has already had cracks
Suer said that the dam operator had reported cracks on both dams as early as 1998. Two years later, the Libyan government hired an Italian engineering company to assess the damage to the dam. The latter confirms the occurrence of cracks in the dam and suggests the construction of a third dam.
Muammar Qaddafi's government handed over the dam repair project to Türkiye's Arcelor Construction Company in 2007. Due to payment issues, the related projects were not started until October 2010, but were suspended less than five months later due to the overthrow of the Gaddafi regime.
An anonymous official told Agence France Presse that since then, the government has allocated funds for dam repair every year, but officials have only taken money and not done anything.
A report released by the Libyan auditing department in 2021 showed that there was a "delay" in dam repairs, with the government allocating over $2 million for related projects in 2012 and 2013, but no construction was carried out.
In 2022, Libyan hydrological expert Badar Vanis Ashur warned in a study that if the dam is not repaired, Delna will face disaster. This warning was not taken seriously by the Libyan authorities at the time.
Hidden dangers arising from internal strife
Jalil Al Shavi, an expert on Libya at the Royal Joint Institute for Military Defense and Security in the UK, said that this investigation will pose a "challenge" to the Libyan judicial system as it may involve senior officials from both the eastern and western regimes in Libya.
In 2011, Western countries such as the United States intervened in Libya and supported the opposition in overthrowing the regime of Muammar Gaddafi. Since then, Libya has experienced political turmoil and has been embroiled in long-term internal turmoil. The Libyan National Unity Government, recognized by the United Nations, and the armed forces that support it control parts of the western region, while the Libyan National Assembly forms an alliance with the National Army, primarily controlling the eastern and central regions.
After the disintegration of the country, due to the lack of unified central government management, various problems arose in the country's infrastructure construction and disaster prevention capabilities. Wolfram Rahr, an expert on Libya at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, pointed out that behind the Delna floods, issues such as the inability of relevant departments to function properly and corruption are slowly emerging.
Original "Flood causing tens of thousands of deaths, Libyan prosecutors investigating the cause of dam collapse"
