Rescue teams struggled amid devastation in eastern Libya, retrieving hundreds of bodies from the rubble in a coastal city that has been inundated by devastating floods, a humanitarian agency said T…
Rescue teams struggled amid devastation in eastern Libya, retrieving hundreds of bodies from the rubble in a coastal city that has been inundated by devastating floods, a humanitarian agency said Tuesday.
Mediterranean storm Daniel caused havoc and flash flooding in many towns in eastern Libya but the worst destruction was in Derna, where heavy rainfall and floods broke dams and washed away entire neighborhoods, authorities said. Tamer Ramadan, Libya envoy for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said 10,000 people were missing after the unprecedented flooding. Speaking to reporters at a U.N. briefing in Geneva via videoconference from Tunisia, he said the death toll was “huge” and expected to reach into the thousands in the coming days. A grab from a video released by the Libyan Red Crescent on Sep. 11, 2023, reportedly shows members of their team rescuing people from floods at an undefined location in eastern Libya.Speaking about the fallout from Friday’s devastating earthquake in Morocco, on the other side of North Africa, Ramadan said the situation in Libya was “as devastating as the situation in Morocco.” Ossama Hamad, prime minister of the government in eastern Libya, said that many of the missing were believed to have been carried away after two upstream dams burst.The streets can be seen flooded after storm Daniel slammed Marj, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2023.After more than a decade of chaos, Libya remains divided between two rival administrations: one in the east and one in the west, each backed by different militias and foreign governments. The conflict has left the oil rich North African country with crumbling and inadequate infrastructure. The Libyan Red Crescent said early Tuesday that its teams counted more than 300 people dead in Derna, which authorities have declared a disaster zone. This handout picture provided by the office of Libya’s Benghazi-based interim prime minister on Sep. 11, 2023, shows a view of an overturned vehicle by a building in the eastern city of Derna.More bodies were still under the rubble in the city’s neighborhoods, or washed away to the sea, according to eastern Libya’s health minister, Othman Abduljaleel.Entire residential blocks were erased along Wadi Derna, a river that runs down from the mountains through the city center. This image taken from video provided by Libya Almasar TV shows flooding in Marj, Libya, on Sep. 11, 2023.Multi-story apartment buildings that once stood well back from the river were partially collapsed into mud. Abduljaleel said the city was inaccessible and bodies were scattered all over, according to Libya’s state-run news agency. He said there wasn’t an exact death toll as of Monday night in Derna, but that the tally is expected to exceed 2,000 as search teams combed through the rubble. Destroyed vehicles and damaged buildings are seen in the eastern city of Derna in the wake of the Mediterranean storm “Daniel.”“The situation was more significant and worse than we expected. … An international intervention is needed,” he was quoted as saying. Emergency responders, including troops, government workers, volunteers and residents were digging through rubble to recover the dead.Excavators and other equipment have yet to arrive in Derna.They heard loud explosions at night and realized that dams outside the city collapsed, sending a wall of water that “erased everything in its way,” said Ahmed Abdalla, a Derna resident. People stand in a damaged road after a powerful storm and heavy rainfall hit Shahhat city, Libya, on Sep. 11, 2023.Footage overnight showed dozens more bodies on the ground, covered by blankets or sheets, in a hospital yard in Derna. The storm hit other areas in eastern Libya, including the town of Bayda, where about 50 people were reported dead. The Medical Center of Bayda, the main hospital, was flooded and patients had to be evacuated, according to footage shared by the center on Facebook.Hundreds of families were displaced and took shelter in schools and other government buildings in the city of Benghazi and elsewhere in eastern Libya.The Jabal al-Akhdar area — where Bayda, Marj and Shahatt are located — has one of the country’s highest average annual rainfalls, according to the World Bank.The Health Ministry in Tripoli said a plane carrying 14 tons of medical equipment, drugs and body bags, along with health care workers headed Tuesday to Benghazi.Foreign governments also sent messages of support to Libya. An aerial view of flood water covering the area after the powerful storm hit Shahhat city, Libya, is shown on Sep. 11, 2023.Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates were among those that said they would send humanitarian assistance and teams to help with search and rescue efforts. The U.S. Embassy said Monday it was contacting the United Nations and Libyan authorities on how to deliver aid to the most affected areas. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi convened his military commanders on Tuesday to arrange urgent assistance to Libya. He said in televised comments that the military would deploy equipment and personnel in coordination with eastern Libyan forces to help affected communities. Known for its white-painted houses and palm gardens, Derna is about 900 kilometers east of the capital of Tripoli. It is controlled by the forces of powerful military commander Khalifa Hifter, who is allied with the east Libya government.Much of Derna was built by Italy when Libya was under Italian occupation in the first half of the 20th century. The city was once a hub for extremist groups in the yearslong chaos that followed the NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
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