UN aid chief says 'climate and capacity' to blame for Libya tragedy

Displaced people receive food aid from private schools and parents from east of Libya, in the aftermath of the floods in Derna, Libya September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori/File Photo

GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations aid chief said on Friday that floods in Libya that have killed thousands of people in its worst natural disaster in modern history were due to the collision of "climate and capacity".

"In Libya, where access to Derna is still so difficult, where there are the compounding problems of the dam breaking, as well as the storm breaking from the sea, this is a tragedy in which climate and capacity has collided," Martin Griffiths told a U.N. briefing in Geneva.