Derna's catastrophe: A tale of political turmoil and tragic neglect in Libya

Years of political conflicts, divisions, corruption, and neglect have erupted in the face of the people of the Libyan city of Derna. More than five thousand people have lost their lives, while over ten thousand remain missing. In the scene, some areas have become almost unrecognizable.

While it is indeed a natural disaster, it was possible to avoid most of the victims resulting from these floods, according to the United Nations, which concluded after the disaster in Derna that it was possible to issue warnings, after which emergency management bodies could evacuate the population.

What happened is nothing but a kind of chaos that has been prevailing in the country for years, concludes the Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, Petteri Taalas. 

Since 2011, the country has been living under a political division that has generated two governments, one supported by parliament in the east and the other in the west, and the ensuing collapse at all levels.

This is not the "sole catastrophe" that Libyans will have to face, warns the Financial Times. Since the fall of Gaddafi's regime, all the money has been going into the pockets of politicians who vie for this ministry or that. 

Tim Eaton, a Libya expert, tells the British newspaper, "Spending on infrastructure or development has really been non-existent."

Faced with the magnitude of this disaster, and after the neglect mentioned regarding the maintenance of the city's dams, which exploded, causing a torrent toward the sea, and despite warnings that the region was at risk of flooding, some reports were not taken seriously in the dispute between the two governments, officials are now tossing the blame around.

Ironically, the political divisions, corruption, and the shifting of responsibilities that ravaged parts of Derna are the same factors that devastated parts of Beirut in 2020 in the port explosion and before that, in multiple instances, notably the Lebanese civil war.

Lebanon may face more than one test, as it did with Storm Daniel. Greece protected itself through state institutions, while Libya crumbled. 

If anyone is relying on oil in Lebanon to reassure the Lebanese about the future, Libya is a model: its vast oil reserves did not help as long as the "non-state mentality" prevailed.