Yesterday the Red Cross put figures on the dimension of the catastrophe caused by the torrential rains in Libya: at least 10,000 missing.
The floods caused on Sunday by the passage of Cyclone Daniel devastated entire streets in the cities of eastern Libya, where the authorities that control that region in the divided North African country speak of more than 5,000 deaths – without being able to be confirmed by experts -, 7,000 injured and 5,000 missing in the city of Derna alone. This means that a quarter of that town of 50,000 inhabitants has been affected. The failure of two nearby dams caused the river that crosses it to the Mediterranean to overflow and widen about 50 meters on each side.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) yesterday predicted that the death toll would rise to “thousands” of victims, while estimating the number of missing persons at more than 10,000. “The death toll is enormous,” said the head of the IFRC delegation in Libya, Tamer Ramadan.
The water swept away “entire neighborhoods, along with their residents, into the sea,” said the spokesman for the Libyan National Army – which controls the eastern side of the country – Ahmed Mismari on Monday. A minister of the eastern administration who had been on the ground later put the number of bodies recovered in Derna at more than 1,000, but predicted a much higher figure, as was later confirmed.
“I have returned from Derna. It is very disastrous. There are bodies everywhere: in the sea, in the valleys, under buildings,” Hichem Chkiouat, Minister of Civil Aviation and member of the emergency committee of the eastern Executive, told Reuters by telephone. “I am not exaggerating when I say that 25% of the city has disappeared. “Many, many buildings have collapsed.”
The city is currently cut off by land after the destruction of its roads and bridges due to torrential waters, without electricity or communications. Two of its dams collapsed early Monday morning and released a total of 33 million cubic meters of water. Neighbors heard a huge noise coming from one of the dams, 40 meters high, before the water moved mercilessly through the city, which is located at a lower level than other cities in the region. The government of eastern Libya has declared the city a disaster zone.
The information does not differ from the story of the neighbors who, since Sunday, have been detailing the magnitude of the disaster on social networks: “I went out to the streets of Derna, but the streets were not there,” wrote a neighbor on social networks, along with some images showing the destruction.
With the largest oil reserves in Africa, Libya has been plunged into chaos since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011 and wracked by divisions and violence. For a year and a half, two governments have been competing for power: in the western regions, that of Abdul Hamid Dbeibé, recognized by the UN as prime minister of the unity government; and the one appointed by Parliament and supported by Marshal Haftar, a strong man in the east.
In addition to the city of Derna, the areas most affected by the passage of Daniel are the coastal towns of the Jebel al Ajdar region, such as El Beida or Susa – which was completely submerged under water – or Tobruk and Taknis and the outskirts of Al Mari. Also Benghazi, where a curfew was declared and schools closed. Described by experts as an “extreme phenomenon due to the amount of water that falls,” Cyclone Daniel has already caused at least 27 deaths in recent days in Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria.
Images captured by residents of these smaller cities and towns show huge landslides and entire neighborhoods underwater, as well as collapsed roads and buildings. The prime minister of the interim government in Tripoli, Abdul Hamid Dbeibé, declared three days of mourning in all affected cities, calling them “disaster zones.”
Saleh al-Obaidi, a resident of Derna, told Reuters that he had managed to flee with his family, although houses in a valley near the city had collapsed. “People were asleep and woke up to find their houses surrounded by water. Ahmed Mohamed, another resident, said: “We were asleep and when we woke up we found water surrounding the house.” Witnesses said the water level had reached three metres.
Musa al Koni, one of the vice presidents of the Libyan Presidential Council, based in Tripoli, has stressed that the authorities “want aid to reach as much and as quickly as possible,” according to the Libyan state news agency, LANA. . “We have asked for help from all the countries that we know we need and that have experience in rescue tasks,” he stated, before revealing that Spain, Italy and Canada “have expressed their availability when it comes to supporting rescue tasks” in the east of the African country. So did the EU.
Although the internationally recognized government in Tripoli does not control the eastern areas, it has sent aid to Derna, as Dbeibé himself announced. For his part, Haftar thanked the countries that have sent urgent aid, such as Egypt, Qatar, Iran, Turkey and Algeria.
Yesterday, the Security Council observed a minute of silence for tragedies in Libya and Morocco, while Egypt decreed three days of mourning for the natural disasters in these two Maghreb countries.
