Dalam Upaya Batasi Jumlah Kematian, Pemerintah Libya Tutup Sebagian Besar Wilayah Derna yang Terkena Banjir
Pemukiman warga Derna, Libya setelah diterjang banjir bandang. (Jamal Alkomaty)
hak berwenang Libya telah menutup sebagian besar kota pelabuhan Derna yang dilanda banjir dari warga sipil dalam upaya memberikan ruang bagi pekerja memberikan bantuan darurat.
Dilansir dari The Guardian, Salem Al-Ferjani, direktur jenderal ambulans dan layanan darurat di Libya timur, mengatakan, hanya tim pencarian dan penyelamatan yang diizinkan memasuki bagian kota yang paling terkena dampaknya.
Banjir yang telah menyebabkan sedikitnya 11.000 orang tewas menurut proyeksi resmi dan banyak warga telah meninggalkan kota secara sukarela.
PBB telah mengajukan permohonan dana sebesar $71 juta dan mengatakan 884.000 orang terkena dampak banjir yang melanda Libya timur laut pada Minggu pagi.
“Mayat-mayat berserakan di jalanan, terdampar di pantai dan terkubur di bawah reruntuhan bangunan dan puing-puing, hanya dalam dua jam, salah satu rekan saya menghitung ada lebih dari 200 mayat di pantai dekat Derna,” kata Bilal Salouh, manajer forensik regional ICRC untuk Afrika saat pengarahan di Jenewa.
Penyelam juga menyisir perairan pesisir kota, Organisasi Kesehatan Dunia (WHO) dan Komite Palang Merah Internasional pada hari Jumat mengeluarkan pernyataan bersama yang mendesak warga Libya untuk berhenti menguburkan jenazah di kuburan massal.
Pemerintah daerah dan masyarakat berada di bawah tekanan yang sangat besar untuk segera menguburkan jenazah, dampak dari salah urus jenazah mencakup tekanan mental jangka panjang bagi anggota keluarga serta masalah sosial dan hukum.
“Keyakinan bahwa mayat akan menyebabkan epidemi tidak didukung oleh bukti, kami melihat terlalu banyak kasus di mana pemberitaan media dan bahkan beberapa profesional medis salah mengartikan masalah ini," kata Pierre Guyomarch, kepala unit forensik ICRC.
“Mereka yang selamat dari peristiwa seperti bencana alam, kemungkinan lebih bisa menyebar penyakit dibandingkan mayat, pengecualiannya adalah ketika jenazah berada di dalam atau di dekat persediaan air bersih," tambahnya.
In an Effort to Limit the Number of Deaths, the Libyan Government Closed Most of the Derna Area Affected by Flooding
Residential settlement of Derna, Libya after being hit by flash floods. (Jamal Alkomaty)
Libyan authorities have closed off much of the flood-hit port city of Derna to civilians in an effort to make room for workers to provide emergency aid.
Reporting from The Guardian, Salem Al-Ferjani, director general of ambulance and emergency services in eastern Libya, said only search and rescue teams were allowed to enter the most affected parts of the city.
The floods have left at least 11,000 people dead according to official projections and many residents have left the city voluntarily.
The UN has appealed for $71 million in funding and said 884,000 people were affected by the floods that hit northeastern Libya on Sunday morning.
“Bodies littered the streets, washed up on beaches and buried under the rubble of buildings and debris, in just two hours, one of my colleagues counted more than 200 bodies on the beach near Derna,” said Bilal Salouh, regional forensics manager ICRC for Africa at a briefing inGeneva.
Divers also combed the city's coastal waters, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Committee of the Red Cross on Friday issued a joint statement urging Libyans to stop burying bodies in mass graves.
Local governments and communities are under enormous pressure to bury bodies quickly, the impact of mismanagement of bodies includes long-term mental stress for family members as well as social and legal problems.
"The belief that dead bodies will cause an epidemic is not supported by the evidence, we see too many cases where media reports and even some medical professionals misrepresent the issue," said Pierre Guyomarch, head of the ICRC's forensic unit.
"Those who survive events such as natural disasters are more likely to spread disease than corpses, the exception being when corpses are in or near clean water supplies," he added.