Hurricane Daniel made landfall on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast on September 10 and caused flooding, causing a large number of casualties in Derna, Beida and Shehat. The Libyan Red Crescent said on the 14th that the hurricane and the floods caused by it have killed more than 11,000 people in the city of Derna, and more than 10,000 people are missing.
The Libyan Red Crescent said that as of the 14th, the number of people killed in the hard-hit city of Derna in the disaster has reached 11,300, and another 10,100 are missing. The mayor of Derna estimated that, based on the damage, the final number of people killed could be much higher than announced, "reaching 18,000 to 20,000."
This is the scene after the floods in the eastern Libyan city of Derna on September 11. Xinhua News Agency (Photo courtesy of the government appointed by the Libyan National Congress)
The road to Derna remains severely obstructed due to the destruction of roads and bridges and the disruption of electricity and communications.
"Within seconds, the water level suddenly rose." Agence France-Presse quoted an injured survivor as saying he and his mother were swept away by floodwaters and the two then managed to climb into an uninhabited building.
"The disaster was terrible," said the ICRC representative in Libya, "and the 7-metre-high wave destroyed buildings and washed infrastructure into the sea. ”
Martin Griffiths, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said the scale of the disaster was alarming. "Thousands have died, tens of thousands have been left homeless, and many more are unaccounted for."
According to reports, rescue teams from Egypt, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Qatar and other countries have arrived in Libya to assist the local government in disaster relief. A number of other countries have joined the assistance operation or pledged to provide assistance. Global assistance to the floods in Libya is accelerating.
Staff carry aid destined for Libya at a military airport in Amman, Jordan, on 13 September. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Muhammad Abu Gush)
Climatologists attribute the disaster to global warming and Libya's aging infrastructure.
In 2011, the United States and other Western countries intervened in Libya to support the opposition to overthrow Muammar Qaddafi's regime. Libya has since been politically turbulent. Due to years of war, the city of Derna does not have a unified central government, the infrastructure is old, and the flood control and flood resistance capacity is weak. At the time of the incident, there was neither a flood warning system nor an evacuation emergency plan. (Liu Xi)
Source: Xinhuanet