Libya: humanitarian response ramps up as floods of "epic proportions" leave thousands dead, missing

Libya: humanitarian response ramps up as floods of 'epic proportions' leave thousands dead, missing

UN agencies and partners are responding to the disaster unfolding in Libya after extreme rainfall caused devastating flooding and loss of life over the weekend, humanitarians told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.

An estimated 3,000 people have died and up to 10,000 people have been reported missing in the massive floods triggered by Hurricane Daniel, which overwhelmed the eastern parts of the country on 10 September, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said.

“The hurricane Daniel hit the eastern part of Libya two days ago and left behind thousands and thousands of affected populations between death, stranded and lost during the hurricane”, said Tamer Ramadan, Head of IFRC delegation in Libya. “We are responding on the ground through our partners from the Libyan Red Crescent. The teams were deployed immediately once the hurricane hit the affected five cities.”

According to the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO), two dams unleashed their waters during a heavy storm over the weekend, sweeping entire neighbourhoods in the city of Derna into the sea.

The storm reached a peak in northeastern Libya on Sunday, with strong winds of up to 80 kilometres per hour, interrupting communications and bringing down electricity towers and trees. Torrential rains of up to 240 millimetres caused flash flooding in several cities.

“The humanitarian needs are huge and much more beyond the abilities of the Libyan Red Crescent, and even beyond the abilities of the Government”, stressed Mr Ramadan who was speaking from Tunis via videoconference. “That’s why the Government in the east has issued an international appeal for support.”

Margaret Harris, spokesperson for the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said the flooding was of “epic proportions”.
“There’s not been a storm like this in the region in living memory, so it’s a great shock,” she said.

Dr Harris added that WHO has deployed prepositioned aid supplies to the affected areas. She estimated that torrential rain affected up to 1.8 million people and damaged and even “wiped out” some hospitals.

“The work now is really to get in supplies, sadly some of those supplies are things like body bags, but also trauma kits,” the WHO spokesperson said.

The Libyan Government has announced three days of mourning in all the affected cities, calling them ″disaster areas.″ Emergency responders, government workers and residents were digging through rubble to look for survivors.

“Our second priority is to look at the people who are displaced”, WHO’s Dr Harris said. “There are lots of people who are already living in precarious circumstances. And we have to look at what kind of field hospitals can be set up, and what kind of mobile clinics. So there’s a great deal of work that needs to be done and is being mobilized as I speak.”

Libya has become a key springboard for migrants from over 40 countries heading for Europe, who most likely have also been severely impacted by the floods, the UN migration agency (IOM) warned.

“There are roughly 600,000 migrants in Libya at this time and we are conscious that in some of the affected areas there are migrant populations but at this early stage and [given] the many access issues that we and humanitarian responders are facing, we don’t have a clear picture about how badly they have been affected”, said IOM spokesperson Paul Dillon. “But as part of the general population, you would expect the same impacts that the residents of that area have experienced over the last 24 hours and it will of course impact on the migrants who are living there as well.”

Oil-rich Libya has been in political chaos since long-serving rule Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed in 2011. The country has been effectively split since 2014 between an interim, internationally recognized Government operating from the capital, Tripoli, and another one in the east, with many armed groups also operating on its territory. The two sides signed a ceasefire in 2020, but political rivalries continue.

-ends-

Includes video statements from the Human Rights Council 54th Session, 12 September, by:

Dr. Lamia Fathi Abusedra, Permanent Representative of Libya to the United Nations Office at Geneva
Ms. Hend Abdalrahman Al-Muftah, Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations Office at Geneva

Libya: humanitarian response ramps up as floods of "epic proportions" leave thousands dead, missing

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