The death toll increases in Libya after the passage of Cyclone Daniel: 11,300, according to the UN

Libyan authorities today demanded an investigation into the human failures that could have caused the worst natural disaster in the country’s history after Cyclone Daniel passed through the eastern city of Derna a week ago.

On the 10th, torrential rains devastated the northeast of the territory, especially in this coastal town, causing two dams to collapse, releasing 33 million liters of water during the early hours of the morning and dragging entire residential areas into the sea.

At least 11,300 people have died and 10,100 are still missing in the eastern Libyan city of Derna alone, devastated by unprecedented floods, according to a report published by a UN organization, citing the Libyan Red Crescent.

“According to the Libyan Red Crescent, these unprecedented floods left around 11,300 dead and 10,100 missing in the city of Derna alone,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced in a situation report on Saturday afternoon. The floods have also killed at least 170 people elsewhere in eastern Libya, he added.

“These numbers are expected to increase as search and rescue teams work around the clock,” OCHA warned.

Storm Daniel, which hit Derna, a city of 100,000 inhabitants, on the night of Sunday to Monday, caused two dams to break upstream, causing a flood of tsunami magnitude along the channel that crosses the aforementioned river. She took everything in stride.

The Health Minister of the eastern Libyan administration, Othman Abdeljalil, reported 3,252 deaths on Saturday afternoon. In a previously published press release, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that the bodies of 3,958 people had been found and identified and that “more than 9,000 people” remained missing.

“The humanitarian situation remains especially serious in Derna,” said OCHA, according to which the city lacks drinking water and at least 55 children have been poisoned after drinking contaminated water.

From under the rubble of neighborhoods devastated by waves or in the open sea, dozens of bodies are removed and buried every day in the middle of a landscape of desolation.

According to neighbors’ testimonies, most of the victims were buried under mud or dragged into the Mediterranean.

Maltese rescuers, who are supporting Libyans in searches at sea, said they discovered hundreds of bodies in a bay, without specifying the exact location, according to the Times of Malta.

“There were probably 400, but it’s hard to say,” Maltese team leader Natalino Bezzina told the newspaper, stating that access to the bay was difficult due to strong winds. However, he added that his team was able to help recover dozens of bodies.

A Libyan zodiac rescue team claims to have seen “perhaps 600 bodies” in the sea off the coast of the Om-al-Briket region, about twenty kilometers east of Derna, according to a video posted on social media, without specifying whether they were the bodies found by the Maltese.

Other Libyan and foreign rescue teams say they find bodies every day, but searches are hampered by tons of mud that has covered part of the city.

Rescue teams are often forced to clear the ground with shovels to search for bodies in devastated buildings.

The work of rescue and search teams is also hampered by the political chaos that has reigned in the country since the death of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with two rival governments, one in Tripoli (west), recognized by the UN, and the others in the East.

Authorities indicated that they had also begun the complicated process of identifying and listing the bodies, several hundred of which had been hastily buried in the first few days.

Othman Abdeljalil also denied reports of a possible evacuation of the city, stating that only “certain areas” could be “isolated” to facilitate relief efforts.

He added that his services in coordination with the WHO “will intensify efforts in the field of social and psychological assistance.”

Water samples are taken and analyzed every day to avoid possible contamination, he insisted, and asked the city’s inhabitants to stop using groundwater.

In the face of the disaster, international mobilization remains strong.

The ballet of aid planes continues at the Benina airport, in Benghazi, the large eastern city, where rescue and assistance teams from international organizations and several countries continue to arrive.

The attorney general, Al Sidiq al Sour, declared that the experts and engineers in charge of the investigation, at the request of the Presidential Council – which functions as the Head of State – will evaluate the two dams in Derna (east) built in the 1970s. as well as the budget item allocated to maintenance funds. In addition, the role of local authorities and the two previous governments will be investigated.

One of the reasons for the rapid collapse of these reservoirs could be, according to experts, the poor state of their infrastructure, the lack of safety measures and the absence of maintenance.

“I assure citizens that the prosecutor’s office will take firm measures against anyone who has committed errors or negligence, and criminal proceedings will be taken,” Al Sour said at a press conference, in which he asked relatives of missing persons to contact the forensic committee for body identification tasks.

The director of the disease control center, Haider al-Saeih, declared that at least 150 people had suffered diarrhea after drinking contaminated water and urged citizens to drink only bottled water, sent by humanitarian organizations.

Medical organizations warn of waterborne diseases and body decomposition, such as hepatitis and cholera, coupled with dehydration and malnutrition.

Meanwhile, rescue teams are arriving with difficulty from all corners of the world, including Egypt, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Qatar; although access to Derna, divided in two after the destruction of bridges and roads, has hindered the start of operations.

The prime minister of the Libyan Government of National Unity (GNU), based in Tripoli (west) and recognized by the international community, Abdulhamid Dbeiba, asked the Supreme Finance Committee to offer “real and detailed” figures for said aid and a precise supervised schedule by an international mechanism in order to preserve transparency.

This committee was created last month to monitor public spending and “fairly” redistribute oil revenues, the Maghreb country’s main source of financing, after Marshal Khalifa Haftar, strongman of the east, gave an ultimatum to the GNU. at the risk of military action.

Dbeiba promised “real and effective solutions”, including fighting corruption, the theft of humanitarian aid and exploitation by “crisis merchants”. To this end, he insisted on the need to unify Libyan institutions and organizations “since the institutional division hinders rescue efforts and their effectiveness.”

The political division further complicates rescue and reconstruction efforts in this country of seven million inhabitants, immersed in more than a decade of conflict following the NATO-backed popular uprising that overthrew dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Two authorities divide the executive power: the Government of National Unity (GNU), based in Tripoli (west) and recognized by the international community, of Abdulhamid Dbeiba; and the Benghazi Government, elected by Parliament and under Haftar’s control, led by Osama Hammad.