More than 43,000 people have been displaced according to the UN by the deadly floods which devastated eastern Libya, notably the town of Derna where communications were restored on Thursday after a 24-hour cut.
As searches continue to find thousands of missing people presumed dead, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) published on Thursday revised upwards statistics for people displaced following the floods on the night of September 10 to 11 .
The tragedy caused the displacement of 43,059 people and “the lack of water supply would have pushed many people”, initially displaced within Derna, to leave it for other towns in the east and the western Libya, the IOM said. The urgent needs of the displaced relate to “food, drinking water, mental health and psychosocial support,” the organization added.
Wracked by divisions since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya is governed by two rival administrations: one in Tripoli, in the west of the country, led by Abdelhamid Dbeibah; the other in the east, embodied by Parliament and affiliated with the camp of powerful Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
According to the latest provisional official report communicated Tuesday evening by the Minister of Health for Eastern Libya, Othman Abdeljalil, the floods left 3,351 dead. But humanitarian organizations and the Libyan authorities fear a much higher toll due to the number of missing people, who number in the thousands.
“Unjustified restrictions”
Telephone and Internet networks were cut Tuesday evening and journalists were asked to leave Derna the day after a demonstration by residents of the city demanding accountability from the authorities, who they said were responsible for the disaster.
The authorities had mentioned a blackout, but according to analysts and Internet users, it was a deliberate cut intended to impose a blackout after extensive media coverage of the demonstration the day before.
The “Libyan Arab Armed Forces” (LAAF) of Marshal Haftar, who have held the city of Derna with an iron fist since 2018, “must immediately lift all unjustified restrictions imposed on the media and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to all affected communities,” Amnesty International said in a statement on Thursday. “Witnesses also informed Amnesty International of the arrest of critics and protesters, as part of the LAAF’s efforts to orchestrate and control access to the media,” the NGO added.
The floods were caused by the collapse of two dams upstream of Derna after the devastating passage of storm Daniel.
Michael Langley, the head of the American military Command for Africa (AFRICOM) and the American ambassador to Libya, Richard Norland, arrived Thursday in Benghazi, the large city in the east of the country, with 13 tons of aid USAID, the American aid agency, including hygiene products and emergency shelter, said the American embassy.
General Langley and Mr. Norland then met Marshal Haftar. During this interview, General Langley stressed “the importance of the formation of a democratically elected national government, the reunification of the Libyan army and the preservation of Libyan sovereignty by eliminating foreign mercenaries”, according to this same source.
“Identify the bodies”
In Derna, rescuers are still working to find the bodies of the missing, particularly at sea, with entire neighborhoods having been swept away by the waves.
The Tripoli-based government announced Thursday that security services had spotted bodies in an area extending over a hundred kilometers between Derna and al-Baida, further west. A card was given to the emergency services to be able to recover them, according to the same source.
A team from Abu Dhabi Police, specialists in identifying disaster victims, arrived in the east of the country on Thursday. This includes experts and specialists in forensic medicine, DNA and fingerprints, its head, Issa Ahmad al-Awadhi, told journalists.
The chaos in Libya has relegated the maintenance of vital infrastructure to the background, such as the Derna dams, which had cracks in 1998 that were never repaired.
“There is an urgent need to establish the facts and circumstances surrounding the staggering loss of life and destruction following Storm Daniel. This includes examining whether the Libyan authorities and those in de facto control of the affected areas have failed to protect the rights of the population,” Amnesty added in its statement.