Libya: «The bodies are everywhere» - Estimates of 20,000 dead

On the night between Sunday and Monday, due to the massive volume of water from Storm Daniel, the main dams on the small Wadi Derna River, which runs through the city of Derna, burst, resulting in massive mudslides that destroyed bridges and swept away buildings, along with their occupants, on both banks of the river, which flows into the Mediterranean Sea.

According to the Libyan Red Crescent, more than 11,000 people have died in the city of Derna, Libya, after torrential rain from Storm Daniel caused a catastrophic flood.

We examine how and why the disaster unfolded ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/p9h4xSyGLi

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) September 15, 2023

Hundreds of body bags are lined up along the city’s mud-covered streets, awaiting the cremation of the victims. Residents, in a state of shock and deep in mourning, are searching for their missing relatives in the destroyed buildings, while excavators clear away the rubble.

The UN, the U.S., the EU, and many countries in the Middle East and North Africa have pledged to send rescue teams and aid—primarily food, water, shelter, and medical supplies—to Libya.

Different Accounts

However, access to the affected areas remains difficult, as bridges and roads have been destroyed, and telephone lines and power lines have been damaged. In addition, only two of the seven entry points to Derna are open.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), at least 30,000 people in Derna, a city with a population of approximately 125,000, are now homeless.

Moreover, Libya has been plunged into chaos since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2021, with two rival governments: one, recognized by the UN, is based in Tripoli, in the west, and the other parallel government controls eastern Libya, where the floods occurred.

The authorities’ accounts vary from official to official. A spokesperson for the Interior Ministry of the parallel government reported yesterday, Wednesday, that more than 3,840 people had been killed, but the minister himself, Isam Bouzniga, stated a few hours later that there were 2,794 dead in Derna and other cities.

Health Minister Osman Abdel Jalil estimated on Monday evening that the death toll would reach 10,000.

«The sea is constantly washing up dozens of bodies,» Hisham Abu Skiwat, Minister of Civil Aviation for the authorities in eastern Libya, told Reuters yesterday, Wednesday. He estimated that the death toll could even double from the 5,300 that have been counted so far.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Derna, Abdulmenam al-Ghaiti, stated that the death toll could reach between 18,000 and 20,000, based on the extent of the damage.

«We need teams that specialize in recovering bodies,» he emphasized. «I’m afraid an epidemic will break out in the city because of the number of bodies under the rubble and in the water.».

For his part, Tamer Ramadan, an official with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said yesterday, Wednesday, that the death toll is «enormous» and may run into the thousands, while noting that 10,000 people are missing.

Warnings

«Most of these deaths »could have been prevented,'" said Petteri Taalas, head of the World Meteorological Organization, during a press conference in Geneva today.

If there had been better coordination, the authorities «could have issued warnings, and emergency management agencies could have evacuated people, and we could have avoided most of the loss of life,» he emphasized.

Due to the years of internal conflict that have ravaged Libya, «a large part of the meteorological monitoring system has been destroyed,» Taalas explained. «Floods occurred, and no evacuations took place because there were no appropriate early-warning systems in place,» he added.

At the same time, a curfew has been imposed in many cities in eastern Libya, including Derna, forcing residents to stay in their homes.

The Libyan National Meteorological Center had issued warnings about extreme weather conditions over the next 72 hours and notified the authorities via email, asking them to take precautionary measures. Authorities in eastern Libya declared a state of emergency on Friday and established a crisis management team.

However, the World Meteorological Organization noted that «it is not clear» whether «the warnings were disseminated effectively.».

Climate change experts have concluded that there is a link between the disaster that struck Libya and global warming, especially when combined with the years of chaos and the collapse of the country’s infrastructure.

«Storm Daniel serves as yet another reminder of the devastating, deadly effects that climate change can have on our world,» said Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

This is the worst natural disaster ever to strike Cyrenaica, Libya’s eastern region, since the major earthquake of 1963 in the city of Al-Marj.

An official with the International Committee of the Red Cross, Eric Tolefsen, also warned of the dangers posed by unexploded ordnance that has been carried by the water «to areas where it did not previously exist.».

«This poses an »additional risk to survivors and those involved in humanitarian efforts,'" he emphasized.

They are calling for an investigation into the dangerous condition of the dams

Libya’s attorney general has been called upon by senior politicians to launch an urgent investigation into the devastating floods, including allegations that local officials imposed a curfew on the night that Storm Daniel struck, causing two poorly maintained dams to collapse.

The call for an investigation came from both sides of the country, which is divided into two rival administrations: that of the president of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohamed al-Menfi, in the east, and that of the interim prime minister of the Tripoli-based government, Abdel Hamid Dabaiba.

Menfi said he wants an investigation to be conducted so that «anyone who made a mistake or was negligent—whether by failing to act or by taking measures that resulted in the collapse of the city’s dams—can be held accountable.» Libya has been torn apart by rival administrations for years, but the attorney general, Al-Siddiq Al-Sour, is one of the few remaining officials whose role is supposed to extend across the entire country.