Maurice Makamba
Libya’s deadly flash flood in September requires $1.8 billion in reconstruction and recovery, an international report disclosed.
Huge swathes of the city of Derna were destroyed in the flood, after heavy rainfall from Storm Daniel crashed through two aging dams, sweeping entire districts into the Mediterranean.
The report by the World Bank, United Nations and European Union said the disaster affected about 1.5 million people or 22% of Libya’s population, and cited figures from the U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA of 4,352 confirmed deaths with 8,000 still missing.
The report said the dams’ collapse was partly due to their design, based on outdated hydrological information, and partly a result of poor maintenance and governance problems during Libya’s conflict.
