Original title: Headquarters reporter’s visit｜Rescue work in areas hit hardest by floods in Libya is faced with difficulties
Floods brought by Hurricane Daniel have severely damaged many towns in eastern Libya, and search and rescue operations are still continuing. After obtaining permission to enter eastern Libya, reporters from the main station went to the center of Derna, the worst-hit city, for interviews on the 19th local time.
There are still many roads from Benghazi to Derna that have not yet been repaired. Washed-out bridges and broken trees can be seen everywhere along the way, and detours are often required. In the core hardest-hit area near the Derna Valley, the scene was even more shocking. Goods in stores were scattered everywhere, cars were washed directly to the seaside by floods, and even rushed into buildings on the roadside.
Main station reporter Zhu Yunxiang:On both sides of the river valley, you can see such steel bars stuck on the ground every certain distance. The locals also told us that these steel bars represent a residential house that once existed here before the flood, but it was completely razed to the ground during the flood.
Abdul Razel, a local resident of Derna:There used to be buildings on both sides of the place, including local people’s residences and some shops, all of which were destroyed by floods.
The search for remains continues and rescue efforts are faced with difficulties
Atop the ruins, search and rescue operations are still continuing, with many family members waiting and unwilling to leave. The person in charge of local search work in Derna said that as of the 19th, they had found a total of 485 remains. Due to limitations of excavation capabilities, this number is still a small number compared to the huge number of missing people.
Tawfiq Misrati, head of the search:The difficulty is that there are so many collapsed buildings and many bodies are trapped under them. On the other hand, some people were washed into the sea. Our divers dived into the sea and saw a lot of building debris and vehicles, as well as the remains of many victims. We are still studying how to salvage these remains.
As the risk of the epidemic rises, authorities will take more preventive measures
The daytime temperature in Derna exceeds 30 degrees Celsius, and as time goes by, the risk of plague caused by decomposing remains is increasing. Relevant local departments stated that they will devote more energy to health and epidemic prevention work.
Tawfiq Misrati, head of the search:We are worried that these remains will become corrupt and start to spread the plague, so there will be a dedicated local team to clean and disinfect them, and more manpower will be invested in prevention work. All departments will cooperate, hoping to avoid an epidemic here.
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2023-09-20 06:58:00
