Why did Libya’s floods leave so many people dead?

Flooding breached dams and wiped out entire parts of the city of Derna — but could it have been prevented?

General view of Derna city, following a powerful storm and heavy rainfall hitting the country, in Libya September 13, 2023
General view of Derna city, following a powerful storm and heavy rainfall hitting the country, in Libya September 13, 2023 [Esam Omran Al-Fetori/Reuters]

Flooding in eastern Libya centered around the city of Derna has left about 6,000 dead and thousands more missing. With deep divisions between Libya’s two rival governments, questions are being asked about how prepared Libya was for such a disaster. We speak to Libyans and a climate change expert to get the latest on the disaster.

In this episode: 

  • Ayat Mneina (@AMneina), Libyan writer and researcher
  • Malik Traina (@libyanmind), Al Jazeera Libya correspondent
  • Ahmed Tarabolsi, doctor from Benghazi
  • Tarek Megerisi (@Tmegrisi), EFCR Senior Policy Fellow
  • Karim Elgendy (@NomadandSettler), Chatham House Senior Fellow

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by David Enders, Ashish Malhotra, Zaina Badr and our host Malika Bilal. Chloe K Li, Amy Walters and Sonia Bhagat fact-checked this episode.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad is our engagement producer.

Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook

Source: Al Jazeera