2023-09-19 03:01:00
The UN, through specialized and cooperation agencies, stated that they are fighting to prevent an outbreak of diseases following the floods that devastated the Libyan city of Derna and left thousands missing, while warning that they are trying to prevent a “devastating crisis.”
The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) indicated, through a statement, that teams from nine UN agencies were on the ground providing aid and support to those affected by Storm Daniel and the sudden floods that hit Derna and other towns in eastern Libya.
The flood left more than 3,000 dead, according to the latest report from the Government that controls eastern Libya, and there are thousands missing. Local authorities, aid agencies and the World Health Organization (WHO) team expressed concern “regarding the risk of disease spread, in particular from contaminated water and lack of hygiene,” according to a statement from the UN mission. The WHO mission “continues to work to prevent the spread of the disease and avoid a second devastating crisis in the region,” he added.
In recent days, teams from Unicef, the UN Children’s agency, distributed “boxes with emergency medical supplies” so that primary care services can care for 5,000 people for three months, it was indicated. In addition, the World Food Program (WFP) supplied rations to 5,000 families and the WHO chartered 28 tons of medical supplies.
A 20 meter wave
It was two in the morning when desperate screams woke Abdel Moneim Awad al Sheikh. When he got up he discovered that the water spread everywhere until it ripped off the doors of his house in Derna.
In front of his ruined house, Abdel Moneim, gazing into a desolate landscape, remembers how he and his family survived the catastrophe, which has left thousands dead and missing.
Some parts of Derna, such as buildings and infrastructure, were destroyed by the waterspout and the bridges linking the east and west of the city also disappeared. Most of the victims were buried in mud or swept into the Mediterranean Sea.
Between Abdel Moneim’s house and the river that crosses the city, “there were three or four buildings.” “Now there is nothing, just land, as if there had never been any buildings,” he says.
The floor of his house, on the first floor, is covered with a thick layer of dry earth. The windows are shattered and the walls are full of cracks or in pieces. He lives there with his wife. His two children occupy the other levels of the building with their families. When the torrent destroyed the door of his house, they went up to the fourth floor. But it was not the end of his “nightmare.”
Abdel Moneim says that following a quarter of an hour, “my son shouted to say that another wave was arriving and that it was much bigger than the first, regarding 20 meters high.”
“I saw death”
The family decided to go higher, to the fifth floor, on the roof of the neighbors’ house. “We used a wooden ladder and stayed (there) until dawn, when young volunteers came to rescue us,” she recalls.
Like Abdel Moneim, many other families in Derna experienced these terrifying moments. Mohamad Abdelhafidh, a Lebanese resident in Derna, explains that “I saw death.” This 50-year-old man was sleeping when he felt the “jolt.” “I thought it was an earthquake,” he says.
He asked his sister and father to go outside but, when he went out to the balcony, he discovered that the water had risen to the level of his apartment, on the third floor. He and his family quickly took refuge in the upper levels, where they remained until the water receded.
According to a latest report released by the Minister of Health of eastern Libya, Othman Abdeljalil, the floods left 3,283 dead. It is feared, however, that this figure is much higher, due to the thousands of missing people.
“The day before, we received a warning that there were going to be heavy rains and that we had to stay at home. Nothing more,” recalls Mohammed Al Zawi, 25 years old.
After taking refuge with his family on the roof of his two-story house, this man explains that, when the waters receded, he saw “25 or 30 bodies” in the street. “The water took away cars with people inside, people, goods. Everything ended up in the sea,” he explains, still shocked.
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