The city of Derna, Libya, after Storm Daniel, September 11, 2023. AP
Several days after Storm Daniel hit Libya, the number of people is still preliminary but looks terrible. During the regular United Nations (UN) press conference in Geneva on Tuesday, September 12, Tamer Ramadan, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), spoke of an “enormous” number of deaths that could be counted Thousands, and 10,000 are missing.
“The humanitarian needs far exceed the capacity of the Libyan Red Crescent and even the capacity of the government,” warned the humanitarian official, speaking live from Tunis. For this reason, the government in the East has launched an appeal for international help and we will also be launching an emergency appeal soon. »
After expressions of condolences and support, the United Nations and many countries, including the United States, Italy, France, Qatar, Egypt and Tunisia, said they were ready to help local rescuers. According to authorities, rescue teams sent by Turkey and the United Arab Emirates have already arrived in eastern Libya.
France announced on Tuesday evening that it would engage the Civil Security Field Hospital (Escrim) to help the population. “The first personnel will leave this evening so that everything will be ready for use within 48 hours,” Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin continued X (ex-Twitter) or about “fifty civilian and military personnel capable of treating 500 people per day,” specified the presidency.
Osama Ali, spokesman for the Libyan “Rescue and Rescue Service”, which has stationed a team in Derna since Monday, reported that the floods had caused “more than 2,300 deaths” and around 7,000 injuries in this area alone, with 5,000 people missing. “Whole neighborhoods of Derna disappeared and their residents were swept away by water following the collapse of two aging dams, making the situation catastrophic and uncontrollable,” the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), an agency, had previously described to ONU.
Storm Daniel hit eastern Libya on Sunday afternoon, particularly the coastal towns of Jebel Akhdar (northeast), but also Benghazi, where a curfew was imposed and schools were closed. Margaret Harris, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization (WHO), called it “a disaster of epic proportions.”
Also read: In Libya, “whole districts” have disappeared in the storm-ravaged city of Derna
“There are corpses everywhere”
Hichem Chkiouat, civil aviation minister and a member of the government’s emergency committee in the east of the country, told Portal he expected a “very, very high” final burden. “I’m coming back from Derna. The situation was dire, he testified. There are corpses everywhere – in the sea, in the valleys, under buildings. » “The number of bodies found in Derna is more than 1,000,” he estimated. I’m not exaggerating when I say that 25% of the city has disappeared. Many buildings collapsed. »
Libya has Africa’s largest oil reserves and has been plunged into chaos and wracked by divisions and violence since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011. For a year and a half, two governments have been competing for power there: that of Abdel Hamid Dbeibah in the West, recognized by the United Nations, and the one appointed by parliament and supported by Marshal Haftar.
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During an extraordinary ministerial council broadcast live on television on Monday, Mr Dbeibah announced “three days of national mourning” and invoked “the unity of all Libyans” in the face of this disaster. The U.N. mission in Libya said it was “closely monitoring the emergency situation” and French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his “solidarity with the Libyan people.” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller also expressed his “condolences”. [présenté] He expressed his condolences” and said Washington was working with the United Nations and Libyan authorities to help with the relief effort.