The World Health Organization and aid groups have called on Libya’s government to stop burying flood victims in mass graves, a week after unprecedented rainfall caused a pair of dams to collapse, devastating the eastern coastal city of Derna. The U.N. reports about 4,000 people were killed by the floods, with more than 9,000 people still missing. The toll is down from the U.N.’s previous report of more than 11,000 deaths. More than 30,000 survivors have been rendered homeless and are in immediate need of clean water, food and shelter. Aid workers continue to collect the bodies of the dead.
Yasser Ibrahim Muhammad: “As a Libyan, when I pull out bodies, I swear, I cry. I can’t handle it. But it is God’s will, so you have to hold up and pull out the body. There was a body that was divided in two parts right before us. There is nothing to do but to pull out the body. What can you do?”