The missed chances to save Libya's flood victims from disaster
Storm Daniel was Greece's worst storm in recorded history but for Libya it would trigger a disaster of unimaginable scale. Facebook Facebook , which may be using cookies and other technologies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Facebook cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Facebook cookies. To view this content you can use the button below to allow Facebook cookies for this session only.
Source:Libya Today
September 16, 2023 15:35 UTC
Libya's flood-ravaged Derna struggles to cope with thousands of corpses
"Bodies are littering the streets, washing back on shore and are buried under collapsed buildings and debris. Mohammad al-Qabisi, head of Derna's Wahda Hospital, said a field hospital was treating people with chronic illnesses needing regular attention. "There are still bodies underground ... Now there are corpses starting to smell." The ICRC sent a cargo flight to Benghazi, eastern Libya's largest city, on Friday with 5,000 body bags. "I've heard from my team that there are mass graves where rescue workers were appealing: 'Don't bring us food, don’t bring us water, bring us body bags'," the NRC's Ahmed Bayram said.
Source:Libya Today
September 16, 2023 15:01 UTC
Dire Warnings About Libya Dams Went Unheeded
It had been clear for years that the dams protecting Derna, on Libya’s Mediterranean coast, were in danger of giving way. Torrential rains were not new. Decade after decade, they had pounded the area, washing away the soil that helped soak up water as it ran down from the dry hills above town. Climate change had also changed the land, making it drier, harder and increasingly shorn of vegetation, less able to absorb the water before it pooled up dangerously behind the dams. Then, there were the decades of neglect by officials — who knew the dams needed repairs — in a country so torn by years of civil war that it still has two opposing governments: one in the west and another in the east, where Derna lies.
Source:Libya Today
September 16, 2023 14:55 UTC
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Libyan authorities open investigation into collapse of dams that killed thousands
Libyan authorities said an investigation into the collapse of two dams on Sunday has begun after flooding brought about by heavy rain killed more than 11,000 people. The UN has launched an appeal for US$71 million to assist the hundreds of thousands in need in Libya. The UK on Saturday announced it was ramping up support for Libya including more money and an emergency medical team. The team, led by health and sanitation experts from NGO UK-Med, will conduct rapid medical assessments in disaster-affected areas. The unit will coordinate with local authorities, international organisations and other partners on the ground.
Source:Libya Today
September 16, 2023 14:52 UTC
Libya floods: The Wadi Derna ‘dam of death’ — where people will ‘never forget what happened’
DERNA, Libya — Locals now call Wadi Derna “the dam of death.”In a moment’s notice, the structure unleashed tens of millions of cubic meters of floodwater on Derna’s residents. The torrents swept generational homes and entire families into the Mediterranean sea — leaving onlooking survivors in a state of shock and horror. A road that connected the valley is now shredded — the two sides of asphalt reaching over the edge to each other. “We will never forget what happened here,” says Safwat Ashraf, a 24-year-old teacher. Safwat says he heard women and children screaming who had sought shelter in the school.
Source:Libya Today
September 16, 2023 14:47 UTC
Libya's Derna struggles to cope with corpses
STORY: This is a mass grave on the outskirts of the devastated Libyan city of Derna. Residents and rescue workers are struggling to cope with the thousands of corpses washing up or decaying under rubble.......after the city was obliterated when the dams above the city broke. The flood swept down a usually dry riverbed. The Norwegian Refugee Council, which has a team of 100 in Libya, said dead body management was the most pressing concern. The International Organization for Migration mission in Libya said more than 5,000 were presumed dead and tens of thousands were displaced.
Source:Libya Today
September 16, 2023 14:18 UTC
Dozens of Syrians are among the missing in catastrophic floods in Libya, a war monitor says
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group, says that 42 Syrians have been confirmed dead in Libya while the real number could be as high as 150. As the storm pounded Derna late Sunday, residents said they heard loud explosions when the dams outside the city collapsed. Still, for some Syrians, Libya offered prospects of a better life. Syrians can easily get into Libya on a tourist visa and find work — wages are higher than what many earn at home. Firas Qalaji, 45, his wife Rana Khateeb and their six children were to be buried in Libya, the family said in a statement.
Source:Libya Today
September 16, 2023 13:41 UTC
Libya probes the collapse of two dams after flood devastated an eastern city, killing over 11,000
DERNA : Libyan authorities have opened an investigation into the collapse of two dams that caused a devastating flood in a coastal city as rescue teams searched for bodies on Saturday, nearly a week after the deluge killed more than 11,000 people.Heavy rains caused by Mediterranean storm Daniel caused deadly flooding across eastern Libya last weekend.The floods overwhelmed two dams, sending a wall of water several metres (yards) high through the centre of Derna, destroying entire neighbourhoods and sweeping people out to sea.More than 10,000 are missing, according to the Libyan Red Crescent. Six days on, searchers are still digging through mud and hollowed-out buildings, looking for bodies and possible survivors. “I found the kid in the water next to his grandfather,” said Ayoub, who only gave his first name. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced in the region and took shelter in schools and other government buildings.Dozens of foreigners were among those killed, including people who had fled war and unrest elsewhere in the region.Others had come to Libya to work or were travelling through in hopes of migrating to Europe. At least 74 men from one village in Egypt perished in the flood, as well as dozens of people who had travelled to Libya from war-torn Syria.
Source:Libya Today
September 16, 2023 13:41 UTC
Libya floods: Bodies being found in sea one week after disaster
Where the river ran down to the sea, there are just banks of earth and mud. People are talking about this torrent of water having the force of an atomic bomb. Things like tents, medical care and clean water need to be brought into the country. And then even when you manage to get that aid into Benghazi, it is a 6-7 hour drive to Derna. But the normal large-scale, well-rehearsed humanitarian operation from the international community that you would normally see a week after a disaster like this is not in place.
Source:Libya Today
September 16, 2023 13:34 UTC
Egyptian students returning from flood-stricken Libya exempted from tuition fees
CAIRO – 16 September 2023: Pre-university Egyptian students returning from Libya due to the devastating storm and flooding are exempted from paying tuition fees of the new 2023/2024 academic year, announced Reda Hegazy, the Minister of Education and Technical Education, in a statement on Saturday. The Ministry extended sincere condolences to the families of the Egyptian victims who died as a result of floods that struck the Libyan state. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid said that the Libyan army prevented entry to these unsafe areas. More than 70 dead bodies of Egyptian nationals who were killed in Libya floods were deported home and buried in their hometown Beni Suef, Upper Egypt, on Wednesday, Al-Arabyia Al Hadath reported. Additionally, the Egyptian Consulate in Benghazi is currently coordinating with Egyptian ambulance teams to rescue the Egyptian survivors and work fast to return them home.
Source:Libya Today
September 16, 2023 12:41 UTC
A Libyan family recounts how they survived the deadly floods
It took 15 men to clear the layers of dirt from the marble floors, the family said. Up to 20,000 people could be dead in this war-divided country — victims of a perfect storm of extreme weather and state neglect. Inside the Saadawi family home, muddy handprints covered almost every wall, rising with the stairs the family had scrambled up as the waters rose higher and faster. AdvertisementThey were saved when the kitchen wall collapsed, Nizar said, the water rushing into the yard where they had been eating. With winter approaching, they would have to repair the house, but they didn’t know how they would afford it.
Source:Libya Today
September 16, 2023 12:12 UTC
Libya probes collapse of two dams after flood devastated an eastern city, killing over 11,000
| Libya Probes Collapse Of Two Dams After Flood Devastated An Eastern City Killing Over 11000Libya probes collapse of two dams after flood devastated an eastern city, killing over 11,000Heavy rains caused by Mediterranean storm Daniel caused deadly flooding across eastern Libya last weekendBy AP Published Date - 05:12 PM, Sat - 16 September 23A general view shows destruction left by floods after the Mediterranean storm "Daniel" hit Libyas eastern city of Derna, on September 14, 2023. Heavy rains caused by Mediterranean storm Daniel caused deadly flooding across eastern Libya last weekend. But there was no warning about the dams, which collapsed early Monday as most residents were asleep in their homes. The storm hit other areas in eastern Libya, including the towns of Bayda, Susa, Marj and Shahatt. Others had come to Libya to work or were travelling through in hopes of migrating to Europe.
Source:Libya Today
September 16, 2023 11:54 UTC
Mass grave dug near Libya's Derna after deadly storm
STORY: Around 3,000 bodies are believed to be buried in this mass grave, according to one of the cemetery workers. Residents and rescue workers in Derna have been struggling to cope with the thousands of corpses washing up or decaying under rubble. The World Health Organization and other aid groups urged authorities in Libya to stop burying flood victims in mass graves, saying these could bring long-term mental distress to families or cause health risks if located near water. A UN report said more than 1,000 people had so far been buried in that manner since Libya, a nation divided by a decade of conflict and political chaos, was hit on Sunday by torrential rain that caused two dams to burst.
Source:Libya Today
September 16, 2023 09:20 UTC
UN launches $71m urgent appeal for Libya flood victims
GENEVA: The United Nations is urgently seeking more than $71 million to assist those most in need after deadly flash floods swept Libya over the weekend. Hurricane-strength Storm Daniel slammed into Libya on September 10, killing at least 4,000 people, with thousands more still missing. In a flash appeal on Thursday, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said it expects the toll to rise. The city of Derna, one of the hardest-hit locations, was reduced to a wasteland after two upstream dams burst on Sunday. Still missingEmergency teams on Friday kept up their search for the thousands still posted as missing from the tsunami-sized flash flood that swept the Libyan port city of Derna.
Source:Libya Today
September 16, 2023 08:46 UTC
Survivors in Libya recall when loved ones were carried away by floodwaters.
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Source:Libya Today
September 16, 2023 05:29 UTC