The situation in Derna’s eastern region is extremely dire, with aid arriving more than 36 hours after the disaster.
The death toll in Libya’s eastern city of Derna may increase as emergency workers discovered hundreds of bodies in the wreckage, and 10,000 people are still unaccounted for after Storm Daniel caused floodwater to burst through dams and wipe out entire neighbourhoods.
The health minister for eastern Libya stated that over 1,000 bodies had been gathered, with at least 700 of them already buried. Derna’s ambulance chief estimated the death toll as 2,300.
A video was recorded that showed multiple bodies covered by blankets in the yard of a hospital. Another image captured dozens of bodies pile up in remembrance. The health minister for eastern Libya stated that over 1,500 corpses had been collected, with half of them being buried as of Tuesday evening.
On Sunday night, the destruction was felt in Derna and other areas of eastern Libya. As Storm Daniel pounded the coast, residents reported loud explosions and saw that the dams outside the city had collapsed.
The Wadi Derna, a river that flows from the mountains through the city and into the sea, was affected by flash floods.
The disaster hit Derna on Tuesday, more than 36 hours after the event began, and rescue workers were only starting to arrive. Numerous access roads in the coastal city of 89,000 were either damaged or destroyed by the floods.
According to Ahmed Madroud, the deputy mayor of Derna, at least 20 percent of the city has been destroyed, as reported by Al Jazeera.
According to him, the destruction was caused by the inadequate infrastructure of the city and the densely populated streets near the river.
He stated that the river’s banks collapsed, causing all the buildings and families to be taken by them.
The state of mourning.
The raging waters of the river had caused large amounts of mud and debris to accumulate, as seen in videos posted online by locals who claimed that their homes on both sides were being destroyed.
The concrete floors of multi-storey apartment buildings that were once long before the river had been toppled and their facades ripped up.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on Tuesday, emergency crews, including troops, government workers, volunteers, and residents, scoured the area for dead bodies while also using inflatable boats to retrieve them from the water.
According to Emaduldin Bileid of Al Jazeera, hundreds of volunteers from western Libya are traveling to the east to offer assistance, while dozens of civil society groups are gathering aid and transporting it to Derna by air and land.
Despite more than a decade of unrest, Libya is still divided between two opposing governments: one in the west and another in east, each supported by various militias and foreign governments.
Bileid conveyed that Libya is in a state of mourning. “Since the catastrophe, political differences have vanished, and we all recognize the need to intensify our efforts to move beyond this ordeal.” The UN Security Council resolution 1224/2001 resolved the country’s security challenges from September 11, 2001, which had been under siege for over two years.
The International Committee of the Red Cross’s vice president, Gilles Carbonnier told Al Jazeera that the situation in eastern Libya is “extremely dire.”
He stated that there could be a significant number of fatalities, as well as numerous individuals who have been affected or are still unaccounted for.
A few days of preparation.
The presence of two opposing governments in Libya has made it challenging for the authorities to respond to the crisis, but Anas El Gomati from the Sadeq Institute believed that they had sufficient time to work together and improve their response.
The storm’s impact on Turkey and Greece was noted by El Gomati, who mentioned that they had days and hours of preparation before it reached Libya.
The evacuation of dams in Libya was a time-consuming process that took only 1-2 days to complete, unlike the situation in Morocco where tectonic plates moved and preparations had to be made.
The storm also affected other parts of eastern Libya, including Bayda, where approximately 50 people were confirmed dead. According to footage posted on Facebook by the centre, the main hospital, Baydic Medical Center, was flooded and patients had to be evacuated.
The government stated that Susa, Marj, and Shahatt were among the towns that suffered.