The Red Crescent, an Islamic Red Cross society, announced yesterday (14th) that the death toll in Derna city, which was severely damaged by floods in the eastern region of Libya, a North African country, is at least 11,300.
Marie Eldresse, Secretary-General of the Libyan Red Crescent, told the Associated Press on this day that about 10,100 people are believed to be missing in addition to the dead.
In this regard, Taher Elsoni, Libya’s ambassador to the United Nations, said the final death toll would be much higher than what has been confirmed so far.
Meanwhile, Peteri Talas, Secretary-General of the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO), told reporters on this day, “If the weather forecast had been working properly, we would have been able to issue a warning and emergency authorities could have allowed residents to evacuate.”
Officials in eastern Libya issued storm warnings and ordered coastal residents to evacuate for fear of a tsunami, but it is reported that there was no prior warning of the dam collapse, which caused major casualties.
In Libya, two dams collapsed due to a tropical storm on the 10th, flooding or swamping areas and sending waves exceeding 20 feet lapping at eastern port cities.
Libya has been in conflict between the Libyan National Army (LNA) in the east and the Government of National Unity (GNU) in Tripoli in the west since the 2011 Arab Spring revolution.
VOA News
*This article references AP.
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2023-09-15 11:25:46
