2023-09-15 02:35:00
The inhabitants of the city of Here, the most affected by the cyclone, continue to bury people in mass graves. According to national authorities, the floods have already caused 5,100 dead, 9,000 missing and at least 30,000 displaced. The United Nations (UN) denounced that the destruction caused by the Storm Daniel It could have been avoided with an early warning system and prior evacuations.
After the storm has passed, the disaster emerges from the rubble on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. As a result of the heavy rains in North Africa, the Wadi Derna river overflowed, which runs through the city of Derna, destroying everything in its path. Houses and buildings destroyed by the force of the water and overturned cars dotted the seafront of the port city.
The floods resulting from overflows caused at least 30,000 people to be displaced from the city of Derna, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). For its part, the United Nations agency noted that thousands more people had to leave their homes in other eastern towns.
Cyclone Daniel: the shocking images of the storm that left more than 2,300 dead and 10,000 missing in Libya
The international agency AFP interviewed a man who lost 13 members of his family. Fadellalah still does not know the fate of 20 other members, several days after the two dams burst, unleashing floods that knocked down the walls of buildings in her neighborhood. Thousands of people like him are desperately trying to find out who survived the torrential rains.
Those who managed to escape the catastrophe recount nightmarish scenes with corpses piling up faster than the authorities can count them.
Storm “Daniel” in Libya leaves thousands dead and missing
Health authorities confirmed that the death toll exceeded 5,100 and warned that the number of fatalities is likely to increase in the coming hours since the whereabouts of 9,000 Libyans are unknown, according to Ossama Ali, spokesperson for an ambulance center. in the east of the country. Among the victims are at least 400 foreigners, mainly Sudanese and Egyptians.
“No one expected this,” said Fadelallah, who asked that his last name not be used for fear of possible retaliation from government officials and armed groups who might see his story as criticism of their efforts. “Some of them didn’t have cars. They had no way out.”he said, referring to his family.
Another witness, Ibrahim Moussa, said the nearest dam burst in the early hours of Monday. “What came down was a torrent of debris that killed everyone,” he recalled. And he added: “Now, the dead are trapped under several meters of mud and debris. Witnesses compared the floods to a tsunami. Many people were swept into the sea. On Tuesday, bodies began to surface in the Mediterranean, whose water turned brown like mud.”
Criticism of the UN
According to the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO), most of the casualties “could have been avoided” if early warning and emergency management systems had worked properly.
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Petteri Taalas, head of the WMO, a United Nations agency, said: “Alerts could have been issued and emergency management forces could have carried out the evacuation of the population, and we could have avoided most of the victims.” ”.
Taalas stressed that the lack of weather forecasts, dissemination and action on early warnings contributed greatly to the size of the disaster. The head of the WMO blamed these shortcomings on the internal conflict that has shaken Libya for years. “The floods came and there was no evacuation, because there were no adequate early warning systems,” he added.
International aid
The United Nations, the United States, the European Union and many countries in the Middle East and North Africa sent relief and assistance equipment, including food, water tanks, emergency shelters and medical supplies to Libya.
As reported by the European Commission in a statement, the European Union deployed humanitarian aid experts to the disaster area to quickly assess new humanitarian needs and the Emergency Response Coordination Center.
The UN pledged $10 million to support survivors in Libya, including at least 30,000 people who had been left homeless in Derna. This is almost a third of the population of this eastern Libyan city before the disaster.
This is the second natural phenomenon to hit North Africa in recent days. A violent earthquake shook Morocco last Friday, killing almost 3,000 people.
Huge challenges
“Roads are blocked, destroyed and flooded, complicating access for humanitarian aid,” said the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Challenges like these show the hard work ahead to rebuild the city.
The UN confirmed that the delay in some sectors is due to the fact that the bridges over the Derna River, which connect the eastern part of the city with the western part, collapsed.
War, chaos and catastrophe
Oil-producing Libya has been trying to recover for a few years from the war and chaos that followed the uprising that toppled and killed dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
The country was divided between two rival governments: the internationally recognized UN administration based in the capital Tripoli in the west and a separate administration in the east led by military commander Khalifa Hafter and his Libyan National Army plagued by the floods.
In addition to the catastrophes, a Red Cross official warned against the risk related to anti-personnel mines dragged to other areas by the water that could be under the rubble and detonate at any moment.
NT / Gi
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