According to global network reports, on September 10, Hurricane Daniel hit eastern Libya, causing a "once-in-a-century" flood in the country. According to the Libyan Crescent Society, more than 11,000 people have been killed and more than 10,000 missing as a result of the floods. There are reports that many of the missing have been washed into the sea by floodwaters, which means that the death toll may far exceed the announced figure, which is expected to reach 18,000 to 20,000.
The floods in Libya were a natural disaster. This summer, Europe experienced record high temperatures, making SSTs in the Mediterranean Sea very high. On the 4th of this month, a storm formed in Greece, bringing a lot of rain to the area. Subsequently, the storm moved south into the Mediterranean Sea, absorbing a large amount of warm water vapor and forming Hurricane Daniel.
However, the consequences of the floods in Libya were man-made. In the flood-hit city of Derna, two dams burst due to hurricanes, gushing floodwaters into the city, washing away many people before they could react. A government minister in the city of Derna admitted that a dam that burst its levee had not been maintained for a long time. The United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO) also pointed out that Libya could avoid most of the casualties and property damage caused by flooding if early warning and emergency management systems were in place.
Although WMO says so, in fact, this "if" cannot be held at all, because Libya has been in turmoil for almost 10 years. In 2014, Libya's civil war broke out, and the country was in chaos. Although the civil war ceased in 2020, Libya's division has not been lifted. Until now, Libya has been controlled by the Western National Unity Government and the Eastern National Congress and the Alliance of the "National Army", respectively.
The confrontation between the Eastern and Western governments has contributed to the tragedy in Libya. The hardest-hit area of Derna, which is controlled by the eastern government, has failed to build roads and utilities and rarely supervise dams, fearing a resurgence of local extremism. Even after the floods, the eastern government did not come up with a clear assistance programme.
Seventy-two hours before the hurricane made landfall, Libya's National Meteorological Centre issued an early warning urging all levels of government to implement preventive measures. After the hurricane made landfall, the eastern Libyan city of Al-Bayda received 414 millimeters of rain in 24 hours.
However, the Libyan National Meteorological Centre belongs to the Government of National Unity in the West. Residents of the city of Derna said they had not received an early warning and that the eastern government did not have any preventive measures. As a result, after the dam burst, the citizens of Derna were horrified to see that the gushing flood had arrived.
In the aftermath of the floods, hard-hit areas such as Derna were in desperate need of relief, but Libya's central bank, which provided the bailouts, only recognized the western government of national unity. In desperation, the city government of Derna could only seek assistance from neighboring Algeria and called on the international community to help.
During the Gaddafi era, Libya was rich in oil resources, and for a time it became one of the countries with the highest standard of living in Africa, and the people enjoyed free education and medical care. Gaddafi has said that if he is overthrown, extremist groups will rise in the Middle East and will have a huge negative impact on Europe. However, Westerners disagreed, first bombing Libya indiscriminately, and then supporting "proxies" to come to power. Gaddafi died tragically, and Libya was plunged into years of chaos.
The West beat Libya to a pulp, patted its ass and left, and sat back and watched the country gradually degenerate into hell on earth. However, the West soon suffered a backlash, the situation in the Mediterranean has become unstable, and a large number of illegal immigrants from Africa and the Middle East have flocked to Italy, France and other European countries.
Just as Libya was flooded, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking at Johns Hopkins University, boasted, "The post-Cold War era has ushered in remarkable progress." More than 1 billion people have been lifted out of poverty. Historic lows in interstate conflicts. Deadly diseases have been reduced or even eradicated. In this regard, the US "National Interest" bluntly said that Libya has not become a "model of democracy", but has become a "second Somalia". Western-style democracy promoted by the West with guns destroyed Libya.