Most casualties in Libya floods could have been avoided with warning system: WMO chief

World Meteorological Organization (WMO) believes that many of the casualties from the devastating floods in Libya this week could have been avoided if the divided country had a functional weather service able to issue warnings, Aljazeera reported in an article published yesterday.

“If there would have been a normally operating meteorological service, they could have issued a warning,” WMO Secretary-General said to reporters in Geneva on Thursday.

“The emergency management authorities would have been able to carry out evacuation of the people,” Petteri Taalas noted, adding that such an operation could have saved most of the human casualties.

The political fractures in Libya have hindered rescue and recovery operations as rival administrations have been at war on and off with no strong central government since a NATO-backed uprising toppled leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

A global effort to assist Libya’s countless victims gathered pace on Thursday, with several countries assisting in a number of ways from medical services to military deployed in relief operations.