The Libyan Red Crescent announced on Thursday that the death toll from floods in the city of Derna, eastern Libya, had risen to 11,300 people, while a local official said the number was likely to rise to much more.
Marai Al-Darsi, Secretary-General of the relief organization, also told The Associated Press by phone that there are more than ten thousand missing people in the coastal city so far.
In turn, the mayor of Derna, Abdel Moneim Al-Ghaithi, said that deaths in the city could reach between 18,000 and 20,000, depending on the extent of the damage.
He told Reuters in Derna that the city needs specialized teams to recover bodies, and expressed his fears of an epidemic due to the large number of bodies under the rubble and in the water.
The United Nations World Meteorological Organization had previously announced that “most of the casualties could have been avoided” as a result of the floods in eastern Libya.
The organization’s Secretary-General, Petteri Taalas, said during a press conference in Geneva that “warnings could have been issued, emergency management agencies would have been able to evacuate the population, and we would have avoided most of the human losses,” pointing to the lack of organization in light of the chaos that has prevailed in this country since the fall of Muammar’s regime. Gaddafi.
The UN official’s statements came days after Storm “Daniel” struck the eastern region of Libya, which resulted in very heavy rains that caused the collapse of two dams near Derna, and water swept through the city, sweeping away buildings and people.
Thalas attributed the scale of the disaster largely to the lack of weather forecasting tools and action on early warnings.
He also blamed the years-long internal conflict that has divided the country, as it led to the “major destruction of the meteorological observation network and the destruction of information technology systems.”
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2023-09-14 18:59:59
