People whose houses were destroyed by floods in libyaA week ago, the eastern city of Derna on Sunday faced the dilemma of staying despite a lack of fresh water or fleeing through areas where landmines have been displaced by torrents.
Thousands of people have died after two dams on Derna burst on September 10, toppling residential blocks lining a usually dry river bed while people slept. Many bodies were swept into the sea and more than 1,000 have already been buried in mass graves, according to the United Nations (AND).
According to the UN, the death toll from the devastating floods in eastern Libya has exceeded 11,300 people in the city of Derna alone.
Dawn on Sunday revealed a scene of quiet devastation, with piles of debris removed from the sides of empty roads along with tangled metal, including pieces of smashed cars.
Hamad Awad was sitting on a blanket on an empty street with a bottle of water and bedding next to him. "I'm staying in our area trying to clean it up and check to see who's missing," he said. โThank God for giving us patience.โ
Entire districts of Derna, with an estimated population of at least 120,000, were razed or buried under brown mud. State media said at least 891 buildings had been destroyed in the city, whose mayor has said 20,000 people may have been killed.
Another resident said people didn't know what to do next. โWe still don't know anything, we hear rumors, some try to reassure us, others say that we should leave the city or stay here. We have no water or resources,โ said the resident, who only gave one name, Wasfi.
A report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Libyan authorities had detected at least 55 children poisoned by drinking contaminated water in Derna, where homeless people were surviving in makeshift shelters, schools or in overcrowded houses. from family or friends.
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The floods had displaced landmines and other munitions left over from years of conflict, posing additional risk to thousands of displaced people on the move, he said.
The OCHA report said at least 11,300 people had died and more than 10,000 were missing in Derna after Storm Daniel swept across the Mediterranean and entered the city and other coastal settlements.
It cited the Libyan Red Crescent for the figure, but a spokesman for the Libyan Red Crescent said it had not published a toll and referred Reuters to government spokespeople, saying "the figures are changing and the Red Crescent does not is responsible for this."
OCHA said more than 40,000 people had been displaced, warning that the figure was likely much higher as access had been restricted to the worst affected areas, such as Derna, where at least 30,000 were displaced.
International aid organizations have sent emergency aid and countries have sent supplies and other aid, but OCHA said much more was needed.
Algerian civil protection workers sifted through the rubble of multi-story buildings with a dog to help spot survivors.
In Al Badya, a coastal settlement west of Derna, volunteers distributed clothing and food. Volunteer Abdulnabi said the team came from Ajaylat, about 1,200 kilometers (800 miles) away in western Libya, divided from the east by more than a decade of intermittent conflict.
"People are coming together to help those affected," he said.
The country of seven million people has lacked a strong central government since a NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Libya's internationally recognized Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, based in Tripoli in the west, called the floods an unprecedented catastrophe. The head of Libya's presidential council, Mohammed al-Menfi, has called for national unity. โ Reuters
