GENEVA: The head of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday (Sep 14) that casualties could have been avoided in the floods that hit Libya if the divided country had a functional weather service able to issue warnings.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva, WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said Libya’s main challenge in managing the aftermath of floods that have killed thousands was that the governing was “not functioning normally”.
“If they would have been a normally operating meteorological service, they could have issued a warning,” he said.
“The emergency management authorities would have been able to carry out evacuation of the people. And we could have avoided most of the human casualties.”
Rescue operations are complicated by political fractures in the country that has been at war on-and-off with no strong central government since a NATO-backed uprising toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Source: CNA
