The mayors of the municipalities of Greater Tripoli held an emergency meeting at the headquarters of the Abu Salim municipality yesterday, to discuss the repercussions of the floods that hit the municipalities of the eastern region, especially the municipality of Derna, on their municipalities.
The meeting discussed taking necessary measures during the coming winter within the municipalities of Greater Tripoli by following up on the current situation of the path of Tripoli’s Wadi Al-Mejeneen and other valleys and rainwater drainage channels.
Formation of an Emergency Chamber
The discussions followed on from the formation by the Tripoli Security Directorate (TSD) of an Emergency Chamber last week entrusted with preparing reports on the paths of the valleys highlighting illegal construction waste, garbage, and other possible obstructions to the flow of water in the seasonal riverbed.
TSD inspects Tripoli’s seasonal riverbed
On Sunday the TSD Committee, headed by TSD head, Major General Khalil Wahiba, inspected parts of Tripoli’s Mejeneen seasonal river path. The TSD reported that the visit noted how the riverbed’s features have been blurred due to their lack of flow for years, and inspected the dams built on those valleys and monitored the places where rainwater collects (Wadi Al-Rabea and Al-Mejeneen) to determine its condition and the extent of its readiness for any torrent.
Financial aid to Derna
The mayors of the municipalities of Greater Tripoli, meanwhile, discussed a proposal to provide financial support by allocating a percentage of their 2023 emergency reserve to support the municipality of Derna.
Disaster Management Centre
They also proposal establishing a crisis and natural disaster management centre within the municipalities of Greater Tripoli. They also discussed:
- Training cadres in their municipalities to confront crises, early warning systems, and joint coordination between crisis teams in municipalities.
- Forming a technical committee to prepare construction specifications for newly constructed residential buildings.
- Implementing several shelters and shelter centres within the municipalities of Greater Tripoli.
- Studying special measures in preparation for any outbreak of epidemics or diseases.
It was agreed to hold an expanded meeting in the coming days that includes officials from the Ministry of Water Resources, Dam Management, and relevant authorities.
Greater Tripoli Municipality mayor sounds alarm bell over Tripoli floods
Meanwhile, speaking to the state news agency LANA, after the meeting, Greater Tripoli Municipality mayor Ibrahim Al-Khulaifi warned of a disaster in Tripoli’s Wadi al-Mejeneen, noting that the valley has not moved on for forty years.
He said that the mayors of municipalities were meeting to sound the alarm and develop disaster scenarios, and to start from now on to think, work, and define their legal and judicial responsibilities.
Al-Khulaifi explained that the emergency section is not present in municipal budgets, and priorities must be determined, indicating that a memorandum will be sent to the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Local Government regarding the items that have been agreed upon, including the necessity of disbursing emergency budgets to municipalities.
