Thousands of people have been killed, with thousands more missing in a disaster that survivors and experts told NBC News was not merely natural.
“Most of my friends from the neighborhood” have died, he said. “People have been found in their homes … people have been found in the sea.”Karim Sahib / AFP - Getty Images
The two structures, Abu Mansour and Derna, were located just uphill from the Mediterranean coastal city and meant to protect its almost 90,000 residents. It was about 2:30 a.m., he recalled, and cars were lying overturned on streets covered in mud. Thinking the worst was over, people headed out to clean up the roads.Around 3 a.m., it was clear both dams had given way as a second wave almost as high as the buildings in the neighborhood charged toward the residents, who ran to take whatever high ground they could and grab neighboring families to escape with them.
“In the event of a big flood, the consequences will be disastrous for the residents of the valley and the city,” he wrote in the Sebha University Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences.The dams suffered major damage in a strong storm that hit the region in 1986, and more than a decade later a study commissioned by the government revealed cracks and fissures in their structures, Libya’s general prosecutor, al-Sediq al-Sour, said last week.
“The responsibility lies with the successive corrupt governments in Libya, which neglected the safety of citizens, “ he added.Ricardo Garcia Vilanova / AFP - Getty Images Authorities have been quick to respond, imposing a communication blackout and even ordering journalists to leave the area, calling it a necessary move for rescue operations.
Petteri Taalas, head of the World Meteorological Organization, told a news conference last week that “most of the human casualties” could have been avoided had the local and national authorities issued the correct warnings and carried out evacuations.
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