DERNA (Libya), Sept 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A week after a tsunami-sized flash flood devastated the Libyan coastal city of Derna, sweeping thousands to their deaths, the international aid effort to help the grieving survivors slowly gathered pace Sunday.
Search-and-rescue teams wearing face masks and protective suits kept up the grim search for bodies or any survivors in the mud-caked wasteland of smashed buildings, crushed cars and uprooted trees.
Traumatised residents, 30,000 of whom are now homeless in Derna alone, badly need clean water, food, shelter and basic supplies amid a growing risk of cholera, diarrhoea, dehydration and malnutrition, UN agencies warn.
Amid the chaos, the true death toll remained unknown, with untold numbers swept into the sea.
The health minister of the eastern administration, Othman Abdeljalil, has said 3,252 people were confirmed dead in Derna.
He also said that only his ministry was authorised to give the death toll, casting doubt on the credibility of other figures.
The Libyan Red Crescent denied saying 11,300 people had died after the UN offered that toll, citing the rescue group.
Its spokesman Tawfik Shoukri saidfrom Benghazi the Red Crescent had been “shocked to see our name mixed up with these figures”.
Libyan officials and humanitarian organisations have warned, however, that the final toll could be much higher with thousands still missing.
UN Libya envoy Abdoulaye Bathily visited Derna on Saturday, and posted on X, formerly Twitter, that the devastation was “truly heart-wrenching. I saw firsthand the magnitude of the disaster. This crisis is beyond Libya’s capacity to manage, it goes beyond politics and borders.”
Emergency response teams and aid have been deployed from France, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, with more on the way from other nations.
The International Organization for Migration’s Libya chief Tauhid Pasha posted on X that the aim now was to channel all authorities “to work together, in coordination”.
The massive flood came as Libya was lashed on Sept 10 by the hurricane-strength Storm Daniel, which had earlier brought deadly floods to Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria.
The rapidly rising waters burst two upstream river dams in Derna, sending a late-night tidal wave crashing through the centre of the city of 100,000, sweeping entire residential blocks into the Mediterranean.
A week on from the disaster, bodies are still washing up on the sea shore, along with vast amounts of household items and debris.
A Libyan rescue team in an inflatable boat reported seeing “perhaps 600 bodies” at sea off the Om-al-Briket region, about 20 kilometres east of Derna, according to a video shared on social networks.
In Derna port, three volunteer divers from the west looked on as an Italian team used an underwater camera to search for bodies.
The United Nations has launched an aid appeal for more than $71 million.
The aid being sent to Libya includes water, food, tents, blankets, hygiene kits, medicines and emergency surgical supplies as well as heavy machinery to help clear the debris, and more body bags.
A field hospital sent from France was now operational, President Emmanuel Macron posted on X on Sunday.
The scale of the devastation in Derna and surrounding areas has prompted shows of solidarity across divided Libya, as volunteers in Tripoli have collected aid for the flood victims.
The International Committee of the Red Cross warned of another risk in the flood area — unexploded landmines and other ordnance left over from the war that may have been washed into areas previously free of weapon contamination. — NNN-AGENCIES
