Libya’s flood-ravaged Derna in grisly hunt for thousands missing
The International Organization for Migration says that ‘over 38,640’ people were displaced in most affected areas of northeastern Libya, including 30,000 in Derna alone
Published: 05:09 PM,Sep 22,2023 | EDITED : 09:09 PM,Sep 22,2023
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Rescuers sifted through mud and rubble on Friday in their search for people missing from the tsunami-sized flash flood that swept the Libyan port city of Derna, killing more than 3,000.
The surge of water burst two upstream dams on Sunday, turning Derna into an apocalyptic wasteland with entire city blocks and untold numbers of people washed into the Mediterranean.
The United Nations launched an appeal for more than $71 million to assist hundreds of thousands in need and warned the “extent of the problem” remains unclear. A journalist in Derna said central neighbourhoods on either side of the river, which normally dries up at this time of year, looked as if a steam roller had passed through, uprooting trees and buildings and hurling vehicles onto the port’s breakwaters.
“Within seconds the water level suddenly rose,” said a survivor, who was swept away with his mother in the late-night ordeal and injured, before they both managed to scramble into an empty building downstream.
“The water was rising with us until we got to the fourth floor, the water was up to the second floor,” the unidentified man said from his hospital bed, in testimony published by the Benghazi Medical Center.
“We could hear screams. From the window, I saw cars and bodies being carried away by the water. It lasted an hour or an hour and a half -- but for us, it felt like a year.” Officials in the east of the divided country gave different toll estimates, with one speaking of at least 3,840 dead.
“We don’t know the extent of the problem,” UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said on Friday in Geneva, as he called for coordination between Libya’s two rival administrations -- the UN-backed, internationally recognised government in Tripoli, and one based in the disaster-hit east.
While most fear the death toll will be much higher, Tamer Ramadan of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said there was still hope of finding survivors but declined to give a figure. The International Organization for Migration meanwhile said “over 38,640” people were displaced in most affected areas of northeastern Libya, including 30,000 in Derna alone.
Hundreds of body bags now line Derna’s mud-caked streets, awaiting mass burials, as traumatised and grieving residents search mangled buildings for missing loved ones and bulldozers clear streets of debris and mountains of sand. — AFP
The surge of water burst two upstream dams on Sunday, turning Derna into an apocalyptic wasteland with entire city blocks and untold numbers of people washed into the Mediterranean.
The United Nations launched an appeal for more than $71 million to assist hundreds of thousands in need and warned the “extent of the problem” remains unclear. A journalist in Derna said central neighbourhoods on either side of the river, which normally dries up at this time of year, looked as if a steam roller had passed through, uprooting trees and buildings and hurling vehicles onto the port’s breakwaters.
“Within seconds the water level suddenly rose,” said a survivor, who was swept away with his mother in the late-night ordeal and injured, before they both managed to scramble into an empty building downstream.
“The water was rising with us until we got to the fourth floor, the water was up to the second floor,” the unidentified man said from his hospital bed, in testimony published by the Benghazi Medical Center.
“We could hear screams. From the window, I saw cars and bodies being carried away by the water. It lasted an hour or an hour and a half -- but for us, it felt like a year.” Officials in the east of the divided country gave different toll estimates, with one speaking of at least 3,840 dead.
“We don’t know the extent of the problem,” UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said on Friday in Geneva, as he called for coordination between Libya’s two rival administrations -- the UN-backed, internationally recognised government in Tripoli, and one based in the disaster-hit east.
While most fear the death toll will be much higher, Tamer Ramadan of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said there was still hope of finding survivors but declined to give a figure. The International Organization for Migration meanwhile said “over 38,640” people were displaced in most affected areas of northeastern Libya, including 30,000 in Derna alone.
Hundreds of body bags now line Derna’s mud-caked streets, awaiting mass burials, as traumatised and grieving residents search mangled buildings for missing loved ones and bulldozers clear streets of debris and mountains of sand. — AFP