The climate continues impacting an area most of the media doesn’t pay enough attention to: Africa. Two countries in particular, Libya and Morocco, have experienced horrible disasters in recent days. In fact, many areas that don’t contribute as much to things like pollution/carbon emissions, are on the frontlines of the forever shifting climate.
Libya is dealing with after effects from a flash flood that has killed over 5,100 people. Two dams collapsed, unleashing the devastating water rush into cities and towns with already not enough infrastructure and protection in place. One city that has really seen the brunt of the impact is Derna. Roads into the city have been mostly washed away, and those who have made it in to help say that there are thousands that have not been found yet, according to AP News. One aid worker, Emad al-Falah, said, “Bodies are everywhere, inside houses, in the streets, at sea. Wherever you go, you find dead men, women, and children.” The U.N.’s International Organization for Migration said that they estimate about 30,000 people from Derna alone to be displaced following the flood.
Late last week, Morocco suffered a horrible earthquake that has claimed over 2,900 and rising, with over 5,500 injured. This was a 6.8 magnitude quake that struck at the High Atlas Mountains. Remote areas of the country have been struggling the most, as assistance there has been slow and difficult due to the geography. For instance, landslides can be after-effects from things like earthquakes. They have currently cut off access to certain roads, making relief efforts more difficult.
How does climate change potentially play a role in what is happening in these countries? Or why were these disasters so deadly? Morocco is a particularly unusual case, considering that an earthquake isn’t something you would normally associate with climate change. The quake was unusually large for Morocco and for that region, at a 6.8 magnitude, according to Rémy Bossu, the secretary-general of the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Centre in France. But mostly, lack of preparation and necessary infrastructure combine to create the high death tolls that we usually see in natural disasters like earthquakes.
Morocco has had to prioritize when it comes to the natural disasters the nation is prepared for, and like many places in Africa, it has been focused intensely on rising temperatures. The heat waves have been debilitating, and many buildings are built to help in that way, with earthquake safety taking a backseat because it’s a less common problem.
While the direct link between climate change and specific natural disasters isn’t always as clear as it is in some more obvious cases, we know that we are seeing the impacts now, and those who are most to blame for the crisis often ignore the impact because they’re not the ones seeing the worst of it. We continue to see devastating floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, mudslides, and so much more. So until we can make a more meaningful change to the overall problem, how we can help those who have been affected by these disasters?
Here are some places to go to help:
https://www.islamic-relief.org.uk/giving/appeals/libya-floods-emergency-appeal/
https://wck.org/relief/morocco-earthquake-2023
(featured image: Mohamed Shalesh/Getty Images)
