大象传媒

The mayor of the devastated city of Derna has estimated that deaths in the city could reach up to 20,000.

Abdulmenam al-Ghaithi said he reached that figure based on the number of districts destroyed by the flood when two dams burst, releasing a huge surge of water.

There has been a lot of debate about the extent to which poor governance may have exacerbated the effects of the disaster.

Aya Burweila is a Libyan expert from Benghazi based in Greece. She told Newsday: 鈥淟ack of investment in the east鈥�dates back decades鈥�the suffering of Derna is very long running. The breaking of the dams made Storm Daniel even worse and this issue really highlights corruption in Libya.鈥�

(Picture: Shows a satellite image of the lower dam on Wadi in the aftermath of the floods in Derna, Libya. Credit: Maxar脗 Technologies Handout via Reuters.)