Floods in Libya have killed more than 3,800 people, new report shows

More than 43,000 people were also displaced by the flooding caused by Storm Daniel, according to the latest statistics from the International Organization for Migration.

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The town of Derna, Libya, devastated by storm Daniel, September 16, 2023. (AYDOGAN KALABALIK / ANADOLU AGENCY / AFP)

The balance sheet continues to grow. The floods caused almost two weeks ago in Libya by Storm Daniel left 3,845 dead, according to a new report communicated on Saturday September 23 in the evening by the eastern Libyan authorities.

This figure, which only includes bodies buried and recorded by the Ministry of Health, “is expected to increase every day”according to Mohamed Eljarh, spokesperson for a relief committee formed by the eastern government. He said the bodies hastily buried by residents in the first days after the disaster remain unaccounted for.

More than 43,000 displaced

According to him, the authorities are working to identify the victims buried without identification as well as the missing, whose number rises to more than 10,000, according to estimates by the authorities and international humanitarian organizations.

Storm Daniel notably hit Derna, a town of 100,000 inhabitants bordering the Mediterranean, causing the rupture of two dams upstream and causing a flood of the magnitude of a tsunami, washing away everything in its path. More than 43,000 people have been displaced by the floods, according to the latest statistics from the International Organization for Migration.


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