FLOOD DEATH TOLL COULD REACH 20,000 IN LIBYA’S DERNA: MAYOR

Thu 14 September 2023:

The death toll from devastating floods that struck eastern Libya could reach 20,000 in the city of Derna alone, the mayor said.

“We expect a very big number of victims. It can reach 18,000 to 20,000 deaths based on the destroyed districts in Derna,” Mayor Abdulmenam al-Ghaithi told the Al Arabiya channel late on Wednesday.

While rescue workers and relatives continue to search for survivors, about 10,000 people were reported missing, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Drone footage shows the utter devastation in Derna, Libya after Storm Daniel. Local officials now estimate more than 6,000 people died in the city. Thousands more are still missing after the floods.#درنة_تستغيث #درنة #ليبيا_تستغيث pic.twitter.com/26DKPo6WII

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) September 13, 2023

Swathes of the Mediterranean city were obliterated by a torrent of water unleashed by a powerful storm that swept down a usually dry riverbed on Sunday night, bursting dams above the city. Multistorey buildings collapsed with sleeping families inside.

Spokesperson of the interior ministry Lieutenant Tarek al-Kharraz on Wednesday told the AFP news agency that 3,840 deaths had been recorded in the Mediterranean city so far, including 3,190 who have already been buried. Among them were at least 400 foreigners, mostly from Sudan and Egypt.

Meanwhile, Hichem Abu Chkiouat, minister of civil aviation in the administration that runs eastern Libya, told the Reuters news agency more than 5,300 dead had been counted so far, and said the number was likely to increase significantly and might even double.

At least 10,000 people are believed to be missing in Libya because of flooding from Storm Daniel, an international agency estimates. The city of Derna has been most acutely affected, after raging torrents of water tore through two dams and swept entire buildings into the sea. pic.twitter.com/pl8EEz2ZWt

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) September 12, 2023

Derna,” Mayor Al-Ghaithi said the city was suffering a humanitarian disaster due to the massive floods that followed a heavy storm in eastern Al-Ghaithi said the city was suffering a humanitarian disaster due to the massive floods that followed a heavy storm in eastern Libya last weekend.
last weekend.

Two damsin the mountains above Derna collapsed.

The flooding in eastern Libyahas also left more than 30,000 people homeless, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration, particularly in Derna.

More than 2,000 people have died and about 6,000 more are missing in the badly affected city of Derna, where two dams collapsed under the pressure of flooding, according to Ahmed Mismari, spokesperson for the eastern based Libyan National Army (LNA). pic.twitter.com/LhirBLTq7k

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) September 12, 2023

Rescue efforts

Rescue teams have arrived from Egypt, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Qatar, said Derna mayor al-Ghaithi.

“We actually need teams specialised in recovering bodies,” he said. “I fear that the city will be infected with an epidemic due to the large number of bodies under the rubble and in the water.”

Rescue operations are complicated by deep political fractures in the country of seven million people that has lacked a strong central government and been at war on and off since a NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

An internationally recognised Government of National Unity (GNU) is based in Tripoli, in the west, while a parallel administration operates in the east, including Derna.

Criticism of local authorities in eastern Libya, including those in Derna, has emerged with some saying that locals were not informed that they had to evacuate before the torrent of water flowed through the city.

However, al-Ghaithi insisted on Wednesday that residents were informed ahead of the flooding.

‘We undertook all the precautions and informed the … the inhabitants of the areas the disaster could have taken place, we created an emergency room .. the security forces carried out their duty,” he said.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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