Hurricane Daniel hit eastern Libya, causing severe flooding, causing extensive casualties and property damage. The floods not only caused immense suffering to survivors, but also raised fears of cholera outbreaks.
Two television teams of the British media witnessed the horrific spectacle, including the discovery of the tragic body of a little girl about 10 to 11 years old. Outraged by missed opportunities to evacuate and save lives, survivors wonder who is responsible.
According to the Libyan Red Crescent, the floods have left 11,300 dead and another 10,100 missing, and hopes of finding survivors are waning.
The United Nations has warned that Libya desperately needs equipment to search for people trapped in mud and destroyed buildings, and has expressed concern about a cholera outbreak. UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said the most urgent needs were shelter, food and critical primary health care because of concerns about cholera and lack of clean water.
Hurricane Daniel made landfall on the Mediterranean coast of eastern Libya, causing flooding and causing a large number of casualties in the cities of Derna, Beida and Shehat. The city of Derna was the hardest hit, mainly due to the collapse of two dams upstream of the city during the night, and many people were swept away by the floodwaters in their sleep. According to the Associated Press, about a quarter of the city of Derna was destroyed by floodwaters, turning into a doomsday ruin.
Libya's International Organization for Migration (IOM) said more than 38,640 people had been displaced. Sky News' Africa correspondent Yusla Elbagir reported near a collapsed dam that the dam is now known as the "Dam of Death." The survivors are still in a state of agony, unable to accept the reality of this catastrophe.
Sky News correspondent Alex Crawford reported from downtown Derna that the city now resembles a giant cemetery. Crawford described scenes of destruction everywhere, with the stench of corpses in the air. The impact of the flood was so powerful that locals described it as sounding like one explosion after another. Entire apartment buildings, bridges were washed away, and buildings were razed to the ground or knocked through. The survivors had just 20 minutes to escape the floods.
During the disaster, the body of a little girl, aged about 10 to 11 years, was found. The discovery was so shocking that rescuers hastily placed her in a body bag. Survivors are outraged by the government's failure to evacuate and rescue them. A structural engineer said experts had long warned of problems with the city's two dams and that the government was responsible.
It is reported that the political turmoil in Libya is the main reason for the rescue difficulties. Since the fall of the Gaddafi regime in 2011, Libya has been in political turmoil and the country itself has been torn apart. The Government of National Unity, recognized by the United Nations and the international community, and its armed forces control parts of the west, while the Libyan National Congress, allied with the National Army, controls mainly the eastern and central regions.
Although the 2020 ceasefire ended most of the major wars, Libya still retains control from rival armed factions. This instability, poor governance, corruption and gangster politics, as well as the existence of smuggling gangs, have contributed to this tragedy.
Faced with such a severe disaster, Manfi, chairman of the Libyan Presidential Commission, called on the international community to provide assistance to the affected areas. In this disaster, the support and assistance of the international community is of paramount importance, and it is hoped that relief work can be carried out as soon as possible to alleviate the suffering of the affected people.