The United Nations has said that two rival governments in Libya are cooperating in relief efforts for flood victims.
More than 5,300 people were killed when two dams burst, triggering devastating floods in the eastern city of Derna.
At least 10,000 people are missing, and tens of thousands more have been displaced.
A UN official said both eastern and western governments had requested international assistance and were in contact with each other.
“Both governments have requested services and assistance from the international community,” Tohed Pasha of the International Organization for Migration told JEE News.
“The Government of National Unity [the Western government] has extended its support to us on behalf of the entire country and at our request, and they are also cooperating with the government in the East,” he said.
“The challenge now is for the international community to respond to the needs and requests of governments,” he added.
Mr Pasha said help was needed “very, very quickly and we need money to do it”.
Since the fall of longtime ruler Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has been divided between two rival governments and has been in conflict between several different militias.
Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dabibah leads the UN-backed Government of National Unity in Libya’s western capital, Tripoli.
In the east, Prime Minister Osama Hamad leads a rival administration called the House of Representatives. However, many feel that power there really rests with military strongman General Khalifa Haftar, who leads the Libyan National Army.
General Haftar received an Egyptian military delegation that came to offer aid and assistance after the disaster.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk stressed that all political groups must work together after the floods.
He said that this is the time for unity of purpose.
“All affected persons, regardless of affiliation, must receive assistance. It is important that special care be taken to ensure the protection of groups that are at risk in dangerous situations after such a disaster. “
Libya Observer’s political editor Abdelkader al-Assad said that because of the internationally recognized government in the west, another government in the east hindered aid operations.
“We all know that Libya has been divided between two regimes for at least the last decade and we have not really felt the effects of this division because the existence of two regimes has been a struggle for power and control over the country and parts of the country. was about. of the country,” he said.
“But now that some cities are facing this natural disaster, this disaster, we can see that the lack of a unified central government is actually affecting people’s lives.”
Support on the ground is being provided to Libyan aid teams searching for survivors in Derna:
- Search and rescue teams from Egypt and Tunisia
- More than 160 officials from Turkey
- Firefighters from Italy and Spain
Tommaso Della Lunga, spokesman for the president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said the search for survivors was running out of time.
“We know that unfortunately this window will close in the next few hours but there is still hope,” he said.
Libyan Red Crescent teams on the ground described the devastation as “a bombing and an earthquake… happening at the same time,” he said.
“What they are telling us are actually stories from all over the city, villages that have been completely destroyed and thousands of families that really need everything right now,” Mr. Della Lunga added. “
