Death toll in flood-hit Derna in Libya rises to over 11,000

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Death toll in flood-hit Derna in Libya rises to over 11,000;  Filipinos in Libya remain safe following tsunami-like flood;  Residents in Pakistan depend on unregulated cable cars to access daily needs

Transcript

00:00 Good day, I`m Sharma Zespina and this is PTV News Now.

00:18 The death toll in Libya`s coastal city of Berna has soared to over 11,000 following

00:23 a tsunami-like flood. According to authorities, it could be much higher than announced and

00:28 may still rise as search efforts continue.

00:31 Aerial footage of the Libyan city of Berna showed dead bodies piled up on the streets.

00:37 Two upstream water dams outside the city collapsed, which caused floodwaters to gush down, crashing

00:43 through buildings.

00:45 Officials warned the public about the storm, but there was no warning about the dams collapsing.

00:53 Continuing on, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli continue

00:57 to monitor the situation of Filipinos in Libya in the wake of Storm Daniel that caused catastrophic

01:03 flooding.

01:04 According to the DFA Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega, the Filipino community in Libya is

01:10 safe. However, if there are families missing a Filipino relative in Libya, they can call

01:16 the Philippine Embassy or the DFA for assistance. To date, communication and electricity lines

01:21 in Libya have yet to be restored.

01:23 "If you have a missing relative in the Philippines, if you lost communication, it could be because

01:35 of the electricity or the internet."

01:41 In other news, Presidents in Pakistan living in mountain provinces depend on cable cars

01:46 to access their everyday needs. They serve as the chief mode of transportation in the

01:51 absence of roads and bridges. But the problem is their chairlifts are unregulated. V-Way's

01:57 Pakistan Bureau Chief, Sara Zaman, has this report.

02:02 For the residents of Kinjbori, a village in the lush mountains of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

02:07 province, this privately run cable car offers a lifeline.

02:11 "In my village, there's not a single shop. Even to buy cigarettes or chewing tobacco,

02:19 we have to cross to this side."

02:21 Four hundred meter long ride across the mountain in this cabin made of welded iron, hanging

02:26 almost 250 meters above the ground, takes less than a minute. Powered by a Toyota truck

02:33 engine, a one-way ride costs less than seven cents.

02:37 "We are carrying our school bags, so we take this lift. When it's not running, we have

02:43 to miss school."

02:44 If the cable car isn't working, suddenly the 400 meter ride between the two mountains

02:50 becomes a two kilometer hike. And on this dangerous dirt path, that can take several

02:54 hours.

02:56 Often lacking roads and bridges, many mountain communities across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa rely

03:01 on unregulated, privately run cable cars, chairlifts and even wooden baskets attached

03:07 to ropes and pulleys for transport.

03:11 Their safety is often questionable and official inspections are rare.

03:15 "The engineer who set this up comes around once a month. We call him and he checks it

03:22 himself. But nothing more than that."

03:25 The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government grounded all the cable cars and chairlifts for safety

03:29 inspections after eight people in the town of Alai were left hanging in the air for hours

03:35 when their chairlift's cable snapped.

03:37 Whereas inspections suffered delays, locals begged authorities to reopen the lifts.

03:43 "When someone gets sick and the lift isn't working, only God knows how difficult the

03:47 situation becomes for us."

03:50 The lift in Kinjpuri reopened for emergency use after administrators assessed it only

03:55 visually. A government official told VOA no mechanical engineer is available for detailed

04:01 inspection of nearly a dozen lifts in this area.

04:04 As some cable cars and chairlifts remain grounded while others resume operation, villagers in

04:09 Kinjpuri say safety is important to them. But in the absence of roads and bridges, this

04:15 unregulated, risky ride is the only way out.

04:19 Sara Zaman, VOA News, Kinjpuri, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

04:26 This has been Sharmza Spina. Stay informed, be aware, get ahead, be of use and get the

04:32 news right here.

04:33 (upbeat music)

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