Tragedy Unfolds: Over 5,000 Lives Lost to Flooding in Libya, as Aid Rushes In to Help Thousands More
The death toll in Libya has risen to 5,300 after a storm forced dams in a coastal city to fail, injuring thousands more. According to Muhammad Abu Moshe of the Libyan News Agency, the death toll for the whole region is at least 5,300 after Storm Daniel made landfall in the northern African country on Sunday and dumped up to 16 inches of rain.
According to the World Meteorological Organization, floods also occurred in Greece, Turkey, and Bulgaria.
Flooding has caused devastation along Libya’s northeastern coast. According to the group, the floods were caused by record-breaking rainfall in Derna, a city on the Mediterranean Sea. In Greece, the group said that the hamlet of Zagora received the equivalent of nearly 18 months’ worth of rain in 24 hours.
According to Ossama Ali, a spokesman for the Ambulance and Emergency Center in eastern Libya, over 7,000 people have been injured in Derna, with the majority of them receiving care in field hospitals. According to him, the number of dead is sure to rise because search and rescue crews are still gathering bodies from the streets, buildings, and water.
President Joe Biden stated that the United States is sending emergency cash to humanitarian agencies and is working with Libya and the United Nations to provide more assistance.
According to a statement on X, previously Twitter, the Special Envoy of the United States Embassy in Libya, Ambassador Richard Norland, the embassy proclaimed a humanitarian need in Libya to assist individuals impacted by the floods.
“In addition, many Libyan Americans have contacted us, eager to make private contributions to relief efforts, and we will work with Libyan authorities to direct those resources where they are most needed,” he wrote.
The flood has displaced at least 30,000 people, according to the International Organization for Migration in Libya, which reported on X.
According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in the Middle East and Africa, the first cargo of supplies for Libya is on its way from Kuwait’s Red Cross. According to the group, it has 40 tons of relief goods, medical supplies, and rescue boats.
In a post on X, the federation’s leader, Tamer Ramadan, asked that countries consider Libya while donating aid.
“Hopefully, it will not be forgotten crisis, and resources will be provided to alleviate human suffering,” he added.
According to a statement issued by Europe’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations on Wednesday, European Union members Germany, Romania, and Finland have supplied tents, field beds and blankets, 80 generators, food, and medical tents to Libya.
Islamic Relief, a faith-based relief and development organization based in the United Kingdom, is in Libya giving supplies for rescue and recovery work. So far, it has pledged 100,000 euros ($124,876) in aid and is raising contributions through its website, Islamic-Relief.org.
Ahmed Abdalla, a survivor who joined the search and rescue operation, claimed remains were being deposited in the yard of a nearby hospital before being taken to mass graves at the city’s only undamaged cemetery.
“The situation is incomprehensible. This calamity claimed the lives of whole families. “Some of them were washed away to the sea,” Abdalla stated over the phone from Derna.
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