Managing the health effects of floods in Libya

Abstract

In recent years, climate change has led to unusual weather events such as extreme rainfall, storms, and drought in several parts of the world (Kundzewicz et al., 2014). Although Libya is not considered a flood-prone region; on Sunday 10 September 2023, Storm Daniel struck the eastern parts of the country and caused the most catastrophic floods in the country's history. Several Libyan cities were affected, although none were as severely damaged as Derna City. In Derna, the two main dams collapsed, causing huge amounts of water to flood several neighborhoods resulting in thousands of victims being killed, thousands more missing, and tens of thousands of people being displaced to live in shelters. The catastrophic storm also caused massive destruction of buildings and vital infrastructure including roads, bridges, and healthcare facilities (Marshall, 2023; World Health Organization, 2023).

Several factors contributed to this indescribable damage, including the negligence of maintenance of dams and roads, the urban sprawl to flood-prone regions, the political and military conflict in the country, corruption and poor preparedness, and weak response to international storm warnings. All of these factors combined, supported by the heavy precipitation, led to an unprecedented disaster in the country's history. Furthermore, such disasters and emergencies are likely to affect the health system infrastructure and supply, thereby reducing the ability to provide health services to the affected areas. In addition, the drowning and physical injuries; as well as other health-related consequences such as infections, psychological effects, and malnutrition may follow (Paterson et al., 2018).

As the country is not usually susceptible to flooding, there was no official public health response plan in place. However, to better manage the health consequences of these floods, a team of experts and literature reviews have brought together a summary of the most important health measures to inform a flood health response plan (Fatemi & Moslehi, 2022; World Health Organization, 2017).

However, several factors may create significant challenges for emergency response, including communication and transportation disruptions due to the damage to the roads, the power supply, and the communications networks, which would make it difficult for rescue teams to reach the affected areas and to contact those who need assistance. Inadequate resources are another major challenge, such as a shortage of personnel, equipment, medical supplies, emergency shelters, water testing kits, chemicals for vector control, and so forth. Other challenges can result from the government's slow response to the emergency, the emergency response organization, volunteers' coordination, providing resources to support the emergency aid, and calling on wider assistance if needed.

This study sought to provide the most important health response measures that healthcare professionals and policy-makers should focus on during a period of flooding in Libya. However, further efforts are needed to develop detailed preparedness and emergency disaster management plans (e.g., flood response) to improve health response before, during, and after storms in Libya.

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.