Channel 4 News published September 12, 2023: Storm Daniel has devastated parts of Libya, as catastrophic flooding has killed thousands.
TRT World published September 12, 2023: Storm Daniel kills almost 6,000 people in country's east.
Ten thousand people are missing after unprecedented flooding in eastern Libya. Government officials have put the death toll at almost six thousand while a Red Cross official would only describe the death toll as "huge".
Worst effected in the port city of Derna, where two dams burst over the weekend. Rescue efforts have been complicated by continuing political divisions between the western backed government in Tripoli and a rival one based in Tobruk. Simon McGregor-Wood has more.
NBC NewsHere is an excerpt from the TRT World news reporting above, "This eyewitness video shows all that is left of one of the two dams above the city of Derna. BOTH WERE WASHED AWAY by the rains of storm Daniel. The man holding the camera explains how two valley's fed into this one. It was 40 meters high but was washed away. ENGINEERS HAVE LONG WARNED BOTH DAMS WERE IN URGENT NEED OF MAINTENANCE." (emphasis mine)
written by Patrick Smith
Tuesday September 12, 2023
As many as 10,000 people are missing and feared dead after a storm slammed into Libya, unleashing a devastating surge of floodwaters across the country's east.
A disaster wrought by intense rainfall from Mediterranean storm Daniel intensified when two dams burst — with at least 5,300 people killed in one coastal city and thousands more missing, according to the Libya News Agency.
Entire neighborhoods were swept away in the North African country, which was already reeling from years of conflict. Images showed the region obliterated by raging floodwaters, with cars, masonry and debris strewn across streets and entire buildings swept away.
The deluge appeared to have done its worst damage in Derna, a city where at least 5,300 people were confirmed dead, according to the state news agency.
Another 6,000 are thought to be missing and over 20,000 have been displaced and left without homes or basic necessities in the coastal city, said Ciaran Donelly, the International Rescue Committee Senior Vice President for Crisis Response, Recovery and Development.
Othman Abduljaleel, the health minister in Libya’s eastern government, described the situation as “catastrophic.”
“The bodies are still lying on the ground in many parts. Hospitals are filled with bodies. And there are areas we have yet to reach,” he said, according to The Associated Press.
That means the toll is likely to rise significantly in the coming days, aid groups warned.
In an interview with Sky News Arabia, the head of the Libyan National Unity Government, Abdulhameed Al-Dabaiba, said a large number of bodies in Derna were swept into the sea by the floods, and emphasized the need for specialized search and rescue teams in the area.
Al-Dabaiba also said that the Government of National Unity (GNU) will send aid to eastern Libya. The GNU is a provisional government formed in 2021, and does not administer regions in the east where Derna is.
The government in eastern Libya based in Benghazi is locked in a rivalry with the western government in Tripoli.
Tamer Ramadan, Libya envoy to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, told a video news conference Tuesday that the final death toll could be much higher.
"We confirmed from our independent sources of information the number of missing people is hitting 10,000 persons, so far," he said, adding that this is not a finalized figure.
The disaster in Libya was “as devastating as the situation in Morocco,” Ramadan said, referring to the earthquake that hit Friday and killed more than 2,900 people.
"The humanitarian needs are huge and much more beyond the abilities of the Libyan Red Crescent and even beyond the abilities of the government,” he added.
The International Rescue Committee underscored this need, adding that action against climate change is also necessary.
“Globally, climate change has made these extreme weather events more frequent and intense, making it even harder for communities to cope and rebuild, especially in conflict-affected regions," Donelly said.
The government in eastern Libya based in Benghazi is locked in a rivalry with the western government in Tripoli.
In a statement, President Joe Biden expressed his condolences to the Libyan people.
"In this difficult hour, the United States is sending emergency funds to relief organizations and coordinating with the Libyan authorities and the U.N. to provide additional support," Biden said in a statement. "We join the Libyan people in grieving the loss of too many lives cut short, and send our hope to all those missing loved ones.”
Libya is divided between rival administrations, each controlling the east and west of the country.
Both sides have had the backing of different militias and foreign governments that have vied for power in the oil-rich nation, following the death of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 after four decades of his rule.
Years of subsequent conflict have left public services and infrastructure crumbling across the country.
On Monday, the Libyan Presidential Council declared the worst-affected areas, around the cities of Derna, Shahat and Dar Al Bayda, a disaster zone.
The council asked "brotherly and friendly countries and international organizations to provide assistance and support for the stricken areas and maritime rescue efforts to recover the victims."
The Libyan Health Ministry said Monday that it had chartered an African Airline plane and filled it with equipment and medicines to be sent to affected communities in the east of the country.
🚨**************🚨
Aljazeera News
written by Staff
Tuesday September 12, 2023
Dams in storm-hit Derna in eastern Libya have not been maintained for more than two decades and the infrastructure was not built to withstand the effects of this week’s devastating floods, the city’s deputy mayor has said.
Ahmed Madroud said on Tuesday that the destruction from Storm Daniel in Derna will be difficult to repair.
“The dams have not been maintained since 2002, and they are not big,” Madroud told Al Jazeera.
According to Madroud, the first dam that failed was only 70 metres (230 feet) tall. Once the water rushed past it, it accumulated behind the second dam, eventually causing it to burst.
The death toll in Derna from Storm Daniel, which hit on Sunday and Monday, is now approximately 3,000, Madroud said, adding that bodies were still being pulled out of the water.
He estimated that the number of those killed may be closer to 5,000 – but the figure has not yet been confirmed.
Though communication has been restored to some parts of Derna, Madroud said, road access has not yet been fully secured, and internet and electricity have been off in the city of about 100,000 people since the storm hit – which is why the numbers of those dead, missing and displaced are expected to rise.
“According to the information I have received, at least 20 percent of the city is destroyed,” Madroud said.
Many buildings are clustered in narrow streets very close to where the water was running and were not built well, he said.
“When the river overflowed its banks, then it just took all the buildings with it, and the families that were in it.”
The widespread destruction will be also difficult to repair in the midst of the country’s political instability.
The administration in the west of the country, led by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, is based in Tripoli and recognised internationally.
In the disaster-stricken east, there is another rival administration based in Benghazi, and backed by the Tobruk-based House of Representatives and the renegade general Khalifa Haftar. The conflict between the two rival administrations, along with decades of rule by former leader Muammar Gaddafi, has left Libya with a weakened infrastructure.
Madroud said he is waiting for the arrival of an Algerian aid shipment by air. Once it arrives, he plans to drive into Derna with the aid.
Many are in need of need shelter, food, and hygiene supplies, he said.
‘Huge resentment’
The eastern officials have asked for assistance, but the country’s central bank, which is tasked with allocating funds across the country, only recognises the western government.
While support from the rival administrations in Libya is “appreciated”, Madroud said the country “needs a bigger international effort” and noted “Libya will not be able to rebuild on its own”.
Hani Shennib, president of the National Council on US Libya Relations, said the east-west political divide in Libya has a major impact on how services are provided, including disaster relief.
“There is a huge resentment and a fracture between the two sides. There is resentment even on the streets as to why the east has been neglected all this time … to the extent that even individuals and groups that are trying to help from the west bringing in private cars are not very well received in the east,” the physician told Al Jazeera from Phoenix, Arizona in the United States.
“I have visited Derna quite frequently. I have been shocked that a city of 100,000 people does not have a single hospital that is functioning,” Shennib noted.
“The only hospital that is functioning in Derna today is a rented villa that has five bedrooms providing the services to the population. This is not new. This is going on for 42 years. It has caused the alienation and political turmoil since the days of Gaddafi,” he said.
Shennib went on to describe the flooding as “the straw that has broken the camel’s back”.
“The erosions in the dams in Derna are not new. They have been reported repeatedly, including in scientific journals from 2011 and moving on,” he said.
“No official has paid attention to it. This is not just a natural disaster, this is a human disaster as well as a result of the neglect of the city.”
🚨👇 NWO globalist want you to believe this was a natural disaster 👇🚨
This is how they're reporting this man-made disaster.
CNN published September 12, 2023: Video shows water gushing through port as 8 months worth of rain falls on Libya
At least 2,000 people are feared dead in Libya after heavy rainfall triggered catastrophic flooding that collapsed two dams and swept away entire neighborhoods. CNN's Eleni Giokos is following the story from Dubai.
This CNN news anchor looks like she is bored with her job. Like she is being forced to report this news. She looks bothered and annoyed to me. She mentions the two dams collapsing but they don't report that was the cause. The Dubai reporter does mention the word "negligence" and that two dams that burst that filled up the valley. (emphasis mine)
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