Summary: Libyan Attorney General Siddiq Sur said that an investigation has begun into the reasons why two dams collapsed in the floods in the eastern city of Derna. Sur said cracks appeared in both dams more than two decades ago.
Libyan Prosecutor General Siddiq Sur said an investigation has begun into the reasons why two dams collapsed in floods in the eastern city of Derna. Sur said cracks appeared in both dams more than two decades ago.
Some analysts say the investigation could involve senior officials from both the east and west Libyan regimes.
Mayor under investigation
Sur said at a press conference held in Derna on the evening of the 15th that prosecutors had launched an investigation into the dam collapse. The investigators came from different regions in Libya, and the content involved matters such as the flow of funds for dam repairs.
Sur promised citizens: “No matter who makes a mistake or neglects his or her duties, the prosecutor will take tough measures, launch a criminal investigation against him, and transfer him to trial.”
A Libyan TV station cited news released by the Derna city government on the 14th and reported that the mayor of Derna, Abdel-Munaim Gassi, has been suspended from office and is under investigation.
The two dams that collapsed, the Abu Mansour Dam and the Birad Dam, were both built in the 1970s. They are 13 kilometers and 1 kilometers away from Derna respectively, with water storage capacities of 22.5 million cubic meters and 1.5 million cubic meters respectively. .
Hurricane Daniel made landfall on the Mediterranean coast of eastern Libya on the 10th and caused flooding. The two dams mentioned above collapsed at night, causing heavy casualties. Many victims were washed away by the floods in their sleep. The latest data from the Libyan Red Crescent Society shows that floods have killed 11,300 people in Derna so far, and more than 10,000 people are missing.
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 might collapse.
There are already cracks in the dam
Sur said the dam operators reported cracks in both dams as early as 1998. Two years later, the Libyan government hired an Italian engineering firm to assess damage to the dam. The latter confirmed cracks in the dam and suggested building a third dam.
The government of Muammar Gaddafi handed over the dam repair project to the Turkish Arsele Construction Company in 2007. Due to payment problems, related projects were not started until October 2010, but were suspended less than five months later when the Gaddafi regime was overthrown.
An official who did not want to be named told AFP that since then the government has allocated special funds for dam repairs every year, but officials “only take the money and do nothing.”
A report released by the Libyan Audit Department in 2021 showed that there was a “delay” problem in dam repairs. The government allocated a total of more than US$2 million for related projects in 2012 and 2013, but no construction was carried out.
In 2022, Libyan hydrology expert Bader Vanis Ashour warned in a study that Derna would suffer a disaster if the dam was not repaired. This early warning was not taken seriously by the Libyan authorities at the time.
Hidden dangers arising from civil unrest
Jalel Alshawi, an expert on Libya at the Royal United Military Institute for Defense and Security Studies, said the investigation would pose a “challenge” to the Libyan judicial system because it may involve high-level officials from both the east and west Libyan regimes.
In 2011, the United States and other Western countries intervened armedly in Libya to support the opposition to overthrow the regime of Muammar Gaddafi. Since then, Libya has experienced political turmoil and fallen into long-term civil strife. The Libyan Government of National Accord, recognized by the United Nations, and the armed forces that support it control parts of the western region, while the Libyan National Congress, allied with the “National Army”, mainly controls the eastern and central regions.
After the country fell apart, various problems arose in the country’s infrastructure and disaster prevention capabilities due to the lack of unified central government management. Wolfram Rahel, a Libyan expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, pointed out that behind the Derna floods, problems such as dysfunction of relevant departments and corruption are slowly emerging. (Wang Yijun)
Original title: Floods kill tens of thousands, Libyan prosecutors investigate causes of dam collapse
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2023-09-18 02:33:04
