2023-09-12 15:40:00
More than 2,300 people have died in floods which devastated the town of Derna in eastern Libya, according to emergency services, but authorities and the Red Cross fear a much higher toll on Tuesday.
Oussama Ali, spokesperson for the Libyan “Rescue and Emergency Service” under the internationally recognized government in Tripoli, told AFP that the floods caused by Storm Daniel had left “more than 2,300 dead” and around 7,000 injured. in Derna, while more than 5,000 people are missing.
He said at least 65 other people were killed in the storm in other towns and cities in eastern Libya.
Officials of the rival government in eastern Libya say that “thousands” of people have died in floods in Derna, a town of 100,000 inhabitants, with the Red Cross reporting an “enormous” toll. “.
According to them, the two main dams on the small river of Wadi Derna failed during the night from Sunday to Monday, causing huge mudslides, destroying bridges and sweeping away many buildings with their inhabitants on each side of the wadi. , before flowing into the Mediterranean.
An official from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said Tuesday that the floods in Libya had caused an “enormous” number of deaths which could number in the thousands and 10,000 missing.
“The humanitarian needs far exceed the capacities of the Libyan Red Crescent and even the capacities of the government,” indicated Tamer Ramadan, during the regular UN press briefing in Geneva.
According to the IFRC, three Libyan Red Crescent volunteers died helping flood victims.
Apocalyptic landscape
The spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior of the Eastern government, quoted by the media, for his part affirmed that “more than 5,200” people had died in Derna.
“I expect the number of deaths to rise to 10,000,” warned Monday evening the Minister of Health in this government, Othman Abdeljalil, stressing that many neighborhoods were still inaccessible.
Rescuers seem overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster, according to images filmed by residents of the region which circulate on social networks and show an apocalyptic landscape.
Cut roads, landslides and floods prevented help from reaching the population who had to use rudimentary means to recover bodies and extract survivors on the verge of drowning.
Derna and other towns are cut off from the rest of the world despite authorities’ efforts to restore mobile phone and internet networks.
Since the great earthquake which shook the town of al-Marj (east) in 1963, it is the worst natural disaster experienced by Cyrenaica, the eastern province of Libya.
Among the images most relayed by the media, some show dozens of remains wrapped in blankets or sheets, gathered on the main square of Derna under the trees of a square, awaiting their identification and burial, in Martouba, a small village located 27 km southeast of Derna.
In photos, we can see a body wrapped in a blanket placed in the back of a pick-up, mounds of debris in the streets, gutted building facades, and even overturned cars.
Humanitarian mobilization
Aid convoys from Tripolitania in the west were sent to Derna. The Tripoli government led by Abdelhamid Dbeibah announced the dispatch of two ambulance planes and a helicopter, 87 doctors, a team of rescuers and dog searchers as well as technicians from the National Electricity Company to try to quickly restore the disconnected power.
Rescue teams sent by Turkey and the United Arab Emirates also arrived in eastern Libya, according to authorities.
Algeria announced the sending of “significant humanitarian aid” consisting of food and medical products, tents and clothing, aboard eight military planes. Egypt and Italy also announced sending aid.
The US Ambassador to Libya, Richard Norland, said the embassy had issued a “declaration of humanitarian need (which) will authorize the initial funding that the United States will provide in support of relief efforts in Libya.”
For its part, “the EU is closely monitoring the situation and stands ready to provide its support,” said the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrel.
12/09/2023 15:38:07 – Benghazi (Libye) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
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