2023-09-12 20:48:00
According to the Arab Regional Meteorological Center, winds at the center of the phenomenon reached 85 km/h on Saturday (9) (photo: Disclosure/Government of Libya) Torrential rains and floods in Libya left a “huge number” of dead , which could reach thousands, as the country has almost 10 thousand missing, said this Tuesday (12) the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC). According to authorities, a thousand bodies have already been recovered.
Around a quarter of the eastern city of Derna was devastated after a dam collapsed during a storm the day before. Hundreds of houses were swept away by the flood, which left a trail of destruction. More than 300 victims were buried, many of them in mass graves.
The floods surprised residents days after Tropical Storm Daniel passed over the weekend. According to the Arab Regional Meteorological Center, winds at the center of the phenomenon reached 85 km/h on Saturday (9), when it was still in the Mediterranean Sea. In addition to Derna, other cities on the Libyan coast were hit, including the country’s second largest, Benghazi.
“It’s very disastrous. Bodies are everywhere,” Hichem Abu Chkiouat, Civil Aviation Minister and member of the government’s emergency committee, told Reuters news agency. “I’m not exaggerating when I say that 25% of the city is gone. Many buildings have collapsed.”
A journalist from the Reuters news agency on his way to Derna reported a scene of chaos and destruction, with vehicles overturned on the sides of the roads, trees felled and houses still flooded.
Libya has declared three areas in the province of Cyrenaica, in the east of the country, as disaster zones and is asking for international help for emergency actions and the rescue of injured, homeless and bodies.
As a result of revolts and conflicts since 2011, the country is politically divided between governments to the east and west — the latter recognized by the international community, which operates with its capital in Tripoli and does not control the eastern areas.
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