Every hour that passes the magnitude of the tragedy in Libya increases. Four days after the catastrophic floods that devastated the east of the country, Libya now has 6,800 deaths. These are provisional figures provided yesterday in Tripoli by the head of the Presidential Council, Mohamed al Manfi, in a televised speech where he confessed that the disaster "exceeds the capabilities" of the Maghreb country.
The number of victims is expected to increase sharply, given that there are still 10,000 people missing, according to data provided by the Red Cross. If so, the death toll could rise to 20,000. Meanwhile, rescue efforts continue, although it is feared that many bodies are lost in Mediterranean waters.
The first mortal remains are already appearing on the shores of the Libyan coast. “The sea does not stop throwing up bodies,” the Minister of Civil Aviation of the administration that runs eastern Libya, Hichem Abu Chkiouat, lamented to Reuters.
The place most affected by the floods is the city of Derna, with 120,000 inhabitants. The 33 million liters of water released by Cyclone Daniel on Sunday broke two nearby dams, causing the Wadi Derna to overflow. The flood swept away everything in its path: buildings, cars, bridges, roads and most importantly: thousands of human lives.
“The situation is indescribable. There are entire families dead in this disaster,” Ahmed Abdalla, a survivor who joined a team of rescuers, told AP by phone. “The human cost is enormous. “This is a disaster in every sense of the word,” a survivor who lost 11 members of his family lamented to local television while a group of rescuers tried to calm him down.
Two days ago, a hospital director in Derna counted 1,700 bodies in his center alone, and claimed that 500 more had been buried in another part of the city. A day later, lifeless bodies lay on the hospital floor while some people tried to identify missing relatives as more dead arrived. One of them, Mustafa Salem, explained to Reuters that she had so far lost 30 members of her family. Now, all of these deceased are being buried in mass graves in the city's only intact cemetery.
The stunning devastation reflects the intensity of the storm, but also the vulnerability of Libya. Years of war and lack of a central government – the country is divided into rival governments, one in the east and one in the west – have left Libya with infrastructure vulnerable to heavy rains. In fact, the Maghreb country is the only one that has not yet developed a climate strategy, according to the United Nations.
The internationally recognized Government of National Unity (GUN) is based in Tripoli in the west. Derna is located in an eastern area where a parallel administration operates and where control is exercised by the Libyan National Army.
This political fracture complicates rescue operations, already very difficult due to the effects of floods that have destroyed many access roads to Derna, located 250 kilometers east of Benghazi. This blockade hinders the arrival of international rescue teams and humanitarian assistance.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says emergency response teams have been mobilized to help on the ground. In addition, countries such as Egypt, Qatar, Iran, Turkey and several Europeans have already sent urgent aid to Libya.
