Sunday's disaster submerged the port city of Derna, washing thousands of people and homes out to sea after two dams burst under the pressure of torrential rains triggered by a hurricane-strength storm.
Conflicting death tolls have been reported, with the health minister of the eastern-based administration, Othman Abdeljalil, putting the number of lives lost at 3,166.
The World Health Organization said "the bodies of 3,958 people have been recovered and identified", with 9,000 more still missing, as it announced 29 tonnes of aid had arrived in the eastern city of Benghazi.
"This is a disaster of epic proportions," said Ahmed Zouiten, the WHO's Libya representative.
Bodies are still washing ashore after being swept out to sea by the flood.
A rescue crew from Malta's Civil Protection Department discovered a beach strewn with dead bodies on Friday, the Times of Malta newspaper reported.
An AFP correspondent saw two aid-laden planes, one from the United Arab Emirates and another from Iran, land in Benghazi, more than 300 kilometres (190 miles) west of Derna.
The Italian embassy said a ship had arrived off Derna with two helicopters, bulldozers, tents, blankets and pumps.
Tonnes of aid from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have also arrived in the east, along with a field hospital from France.
Hatem al-Tawahni, medical director of Benghazi Medical Centre, told AFP 15 injured from Derna are now being treated there.
One patient, Eid Kayat Abdel Khalef, was working in Derna when the flood hit. He said 75 people from his hometown of Al-Sharif in Egypt were killed.
"There are people whose fate is completely unknown... we don't have any information about them," he added.
A steady stream of vehicles trickled into Derna on a makeshift road as diggers toiled to shift rubble.
In Al-Bayda, 100 kilometres west of Derna, people worked to clear roads and homes of mounds of mud.
- 'Confusion and chaos' -
A volunteer in Al-Bayda who is originally from Derna said many people had told her of the "confusion and chaos" of relief efforts in the flood-stricken port city.
"I have also lost a lot of loved ones there," said Rahab Shneib.
"Despite the ongoing efforts of many humanitarian organisations to bring comfort to the heart, it is important to note that many people have remarked on the lack of organisation."
Derna resident Mohammad al-Dawali said: "In this city, every single family has been affected."
Seir Mohammed Seir, a member of the security forces, said more than 1,500 families had been saved, along with a three-month-old girl.
"Her entire family died, she was the only one who survived."
The floods were caused by hurricane-strength Storm Daniel, compounded by poor infrastructure in Libya which was plunged into turmoil after a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.
The Islamic Relief aid organisation warned of a "second humanitarian crisis", pointing to the "growing risk of water-borne diseases and shortages of food, shelter and medicine".
But the Red Cross and the WHO pointed out that contrary to widespread belief, the bodies of victims of natural disasters rarely pose a health threat.
The spokesman for the eastern-based Libyan National Army, Ahmed al-Mesmari, said the floods had affected "over 1.2 million people".
The United Nations has launched an appeal for more than $71 million to assist hundreds of thousands in need.
"We don't know the extent of the problem," UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said Friday, as he called for coordination between Libya's two rival administrations -- the UN-backed, internationally recognised government in Tripoli, and one based in the disaster-hit east.
- Civilian access blocked -
The head of the eastern-based government, Oussama Hamad, announced new measures would be imposed from Saturday, closing the disaster zone off from civilians.
After opening a probe, Libya's prosecutor general Al-Seddik al-Sur said the two dams at the origin of the disaster had been cracked since 1998.
But repairs begun by a Turkish company in 2010 were suspended after a few months when the 2011 revolution flared, and the work never resumed, the prosecutor said, vowing to deal firmly with those responsible.
The scale of the devastation has prompted shows of solidarity, as volunteers in Tripoli gathered aid for the flood victims in the east.
The International Organization for Migration said "over 38,640" people had been left homeless in eastern Libya, 30,000 of them in Derna alone.
Climate experts have linked the disaster to the impacts of a heating planet, combined with Libya's decaying infrastructure.
"A puzzle of dysfunction, incompetence, carelessness, neglect and corruption is slowly emerging behind the catastrophe in Derna," said Wolfram Lacher, Libya specialist at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
International aid arrives in flood-hit Libya
Paris (AFP) Sept 16, 2023 -
International aid is arriving in Libya from the UN, Europe and Middle Eastern countries, offering some relief to thousands after flooding submerged the port city of Derna.
- The World Health Organization said "the bodies of 3,958 people have been recovered and identified", with 9,000 more still missing, as it announced 29 tonnes of aid had arrived in the eastern city of Benghazi, enough to help 250,000 people.
The aid includes essential medicines and emergency surgical supplies, as well as body bags to allow corpses to be moved and the deceased to be given a "dignified burial".
- The UN humanitarian affairs office (OCHA) immediately released $10 million from the UN's Central Emergency Response Fund and launched an appeal for $71.4 million aiming to help 250,000 people and "prevent a secondary health crisis".
- The Red Crescent has sent a humanitarian shipment of 40 tons, including tents, blankets, carpets, hygiene items and food packages along with three rescue teams, the head of Iran's Red Crescent said Saturday.
- The Italian military vessel San Marco arrived off Derna on Saturday, carrying two search and rescue helicopters, 100 tents capable of housing 1,000 people, 5,000 blankets, sanitary equipment, eight pumps to evacuate water and civil engineering equipment.
- On Saturday, Romania sent a first aid plane carrying foodstuffs and mattresses. Six flights are planned, carrying a total of 55 tonnes of aid.
- Two Turkish military vessels docked in Libya on Saturday carrying three field hospitals, food supplies, tents, shelters and medical equipment, as well as 360 personnel from the medical corps, the Turkish relief agency Afad, the coastguard and the fire brigade.
Another ship was due to leave Izmir on Saturday. Three cargo planes took off on Tuesday to bring aid to the victims. Turkey, which was hard hit in February by a powerful earthquake that killed over 50,000 people, is a close ally of the Tripoli government, which it has supported, including militarily, since 2020.
- Egypt has sent three military aircraft with rescue teams and aid, including medical supplies and tents. On Wednesday, it also began setting up camps near its border with Libya for "our Libyan brothers who have lost their homes".
Previously Egypt has always refused to set up reception camps for refugees who might arrive on its territory.
- On Tuesday, Algeria sent large amounts of humanitarian aid, consisting of foodstuffs, medical equipment, clothing and tents via an airlift by eight military aircraft, according to a press release from the presidency.
A team of 113 civil protection agents including divers and doctors specialising in disaster medicine is also in Derna.
- Jordan on Tuesday sent a plane with a relief team and food, tents and blankets. On Thursday, a second aircraft brought a team of 28 people specialised in disaster relief, including five doctors.
- Germany has sent two planes carrying 30 tonnes of equipment.
- France has dispatched two Airbus A400M aircraft. The first on Wednesday, carrying around forty rescue workers and several tonnes of medical equipment, including a field hospital, was bound for Al-Bayda, one of the areas worst affected by the floods to the north-east of Benghazi.
A second airbus was sent on Thursday with additional aid.
A German C130J, with Franco-German freight, left on Saturday.
- On Wednesday, the UK announced an initial aid package of 1 million pounds ($1.24 million) for Libya, without giving any further details about the form it would take.
- More aid has come from the United Arab Emirates, the Palestinian authority and Hungary.
Libya's deadly floods: what we know
Tripoli (AFP) Sept 16, 2023 -
Flash flooding in east Libya caused by Storm Daniel tore through the coastal city of Derna, leaving more than 3,000 people dead, around 10,000 missing and entire neighbourhoods in ruins.
This is what we know so far about the extreme storm and flash flooding that hit the war-torn North African country.
- Dams burst -
On Sunday afternoon, Storm Daniel made landfall on Libya's east coast after earlier lashing Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey.
It touched Benghazi before veering towards the Jabal al-Akhdar district towns of Shahat, Al-Marj, Al-Bayda, Susa and Derna, devastating that city of 100,000 people.
Derna lies in a river wadi 900 kilometres (560 miles) east of the capital Tripoli.
Overnight, two dams on Wadi Derna burst, unleashing torrents of water that destroyed bridges and swept away entire neighbourhoods before spilling into the Mediterranean.
Roads that were already in a poor state were cut, and access to some affected areas became impossible.
- Huge toll -
Officials in the east of the divided country give different toll estimates, with health minister of the eastern-based administration, Othman Abdeljalil, on Saturday putting the number of lives lost at 3,166.
However, most fear the figure will be far higher.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said "the bodies of 3,958 people have been recovered and identified", with 9,000 more still missing.
The International Organization for Migration on Friday said "over 38,640" people had been left homeless in eastern Libya, 30,000 of them in Derna alone.
The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said on Thursday an estimated 884,000 people directly impacted by the storm and flash floods in five provinces need assistance.
- Authorities mobilise -
The authorities in Libya's divided east and west, faced by the appalling human and material devastation caused by the floods, have come to the aid of those stricken by the disaster.
Aid convoys from Tripolitania in the west were sent to Derna.
The internationally recognised Tripoli government of Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dbeibah said it was sending two air ambulances and a helicopter, as well as rescuers, 87 doctors, canine search teams and workers to try to restore electricity.
The head of the eastern-based government, Oussama Hamad, said that "from Saturday, new measures will be applied in the disaster zone" to search for bodies and any survivors.
The area would be closed off to civilians and security services, he said, adding that "only Libyan and foreign search teams and investigators will have access".
- International response -
Relief missions have rushed aid to the disaster-hit country over the course of the week.
On Saturday, an AFP correspondent saw two aid-laden planes, one from the United Arab Emirates and another from Iran, land in Benghazi, west of Derna.
The WHO announced 29 tonnes of health supplies had arrived in Benghazi.
The United Nations has launched an appeal for more than $71 million to aid the hundreds of thousands in need.
The world body also called for a sea corridor to be established for emergency relief and evacuations.
Assistance from Finland, Germany, Romania has been dispatched. Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait have also sent planes carrying aid.
Algeria, France, Italy, Qatar, Tunisia the United States have all also offered help.
- 'Medicane' -
Storm Daniel gathered strength during an unusually hot summer and earlier lashed Turkey, Bulgaria and Greece, flooding vast areas and killing at least 27 people.
Climate experts say it bears the features of tropical cyclones and hurricanes known as "medicanes" which tend to form in the Mediterranean near the North African coast.
Medicanes form once or twice per year on average, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
While scientists generally avoid direct links between individual weather events and long-term global warming, Storm Daniel "is illustrative of the type of devastating flooding event we may expect increasingly in the future", said Lizzie Kendon, a climate science professor at the University of Bristol.
The EU's climate monitoring service Copernicus said rising global sea surface temperatures were driving record levels of heat across the globe, with 2023 likely to be the warmest in human history.
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