24/7 Space News
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Angry protests erupt in flood-hit Libyan city; Survivors say 'the earth shook'
Angry protests erupt in flood-hit Libyan city; Survivors say 'the earth shook'
By Amanda Mouawad
Derna, Libya (AFP) Sept 18, 2023

Hundreds of protesters rallied in Libya's disaster-hit Derna on Monday, accusing the authorities of neglect after a huge flash flood devastated the coastal city and swept thousands to their deaths.

Demonstrators gathered outside the city's grand mosque and chanted slogans against the parliament in east Libya and its leader Aguilah Saleh.

"The people want parliament to fall", "Aguila is the enemy of God", "The blood of martyrs is not shed in vain" and "Thieves and betrayers must hang", they shouted.

A statement read on behalf of the protesters urged "a speedy investigation and legal action against those responsible for the disaster".

They also demanded a United Nations office in Derna and the start of "the city's reconstruction, plus compensation for affected residents" and a probe into the current city council and previous budgets.

"Those who survived from the city, in what's left of the city, against the ones who brought death and destruction to the city," posted analyst Anas el-Gomati on X, formerly Twitter, under pictures of the destruction.

Some protesters marched on a house reportedly owned by Derna's unpopular mayor Abdulmonem al-Ghaithi and set it on fire, according to images shared on social networks and by Libyan media.

Al-Masar television reported that the head of the eastern-based government, Oussama Hamad, had dissolved Derna council and ordered an investigation into it.

Politicians and analysts say the chaos in Libya since the 2011 fall and killing of Moamer Kadhafi has relegated the maintenance of vital infrastructure to the background.

On September 10, two dams in which cracks were reported as far back as 1998 burst after Storm Daniel hit eastern Libya, unleashing the devastating and deadly torrent that swept through the city of 100,000 people.

It killed more than 3,330 people and left thousands more missing.

Tens of thousands of traumatised residents are homeless and badly need clean water, food and basic supplies amid a growing risk of cholera, diarrhoea, dehydration and malnutrition, UN agencies have warned.

- Disease outbreaks -

On Monday the UN warned disease outbreaks could bring "a second devastating crisis".

Local officials, aid agencies and the World Health Organization "are concerned about the risk of disease outbreak, particularly from contaminated water and the lack of sanitation", the UN said.

Libya's disease control centre warned that mains water in the disaster zone is "polluted".

Rescue teams from European and Arab countries kept up the grim search for bodies in the mud-caked wasteland of smashed buildings, crushed cars and uprooted trees.

The waters submerged a densely populated six-square-kilometre (2.3-square-mile) area of Derna, damaging 1,500 buildings of which 891 were totally razed, according to a preliminary report by the Tripoli government based on satellite images.

"We grew up here, we were raised here... But we've come to hate this place, we've come to hate what it has become," said one bereaved Derna resident, Abdul Wahab al-Masouri.

Bulldozers cleared roads of mud, including at a mosque where a foul smell hung in the air and a woman prayed for children and grandchildren killed in the disaster.

Amid the chaos, the true death toll remained unknown, with untold numbers swept into the sea.

The health minister of the divided country's eastern administration, Othman Abdeljalil, said Monday 3,338 people were now confirmed dead in Derna.

Officials and humanitarian groups have warned that the final toll could be much higher.

- Field hospitals -

Emergency response teams and aid have been deployed from countries including Egypt, France, Greece, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

Egypt has sent a helicopter carrier to the eastern Tobruk military base to serve as a field hospital with more than 100 beds, Egyptian media reported Monday.

France has set up a field hospital in Derna.

On Monday, the UN, which has launched an emergency appeal for more than $71 million, said nine of its agencies were delivering aid and support to survivors.

The European Union said it was releasing 5.2 million euros (around $5.5 million) in humanitarian funding for Libya, bringing total EU aid so far to more than 5.7 million euros.

In the face of the tragedy, rival Libyan administrations appear to have set aside their differences for now after calls to collaborate in the aid effort.

Libya has been split between two rival governments -- a UN-backed administration in the capital Tripoli and another in the disaster-hit east -- since the NATO-backed uprising 12 years ago.

On Monday the Tripoli-based government said it began work on a temporary bridge over the river that cuts through Derna.

UN experts have blamed the high death toll on climatic factors as the Mediterranean region has sweltered under an unusually hot summer, and on the legacy of Libya's war.

bur-ezz/ila/srm/dv

X

Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
A world of storm and tempest
When the Earth Quakes

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Greek PM vows for a restart after criticism for natural disasters' handling
Athens (AFP) Sept 17, 2023
Faced with criticism for his alleged poor handling of the fires and floods that struck Greece this summer, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis pledged fresh funding and reforms in order to fight the "climate war". The promises could reinvigorate the image of his newly elected government that has been tarnished by footage of residents taking refuge on their roofs in desperate need of rescue as rising waters engulfed poorly prepared regions. "Greece is facing a war in a time of peace," Mitsotakis ... read more

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
NASA joins the still controversial search for UFOs

US astronaut sets record for stint in space

Kombucha: Ally for Moon and Mars

Virgin Galactic notches fourth spaceflight in four months

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Musk biography describes troubled tycoon driven by demons

Marcus Wandt will fly to International Space Station on third Axiom Space mission

SpaceX launches 22 Starlink satellites in 65th mission of 2023

The Vostochny cosmodrome: symbol of Moscow's struggling space sector

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Sols 3948-3949: A Rocky Road, or Two!

Another Martian Weekend" Sols 3943-3945

Sols 3936-3939: Double the Fun

China publishes new datasets obtained by Mars, lunar probes

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Tianzhou 5 spacecraft burns up on Earth reentry

Crew of Shenzhou XV mission honored for six-month space odyssey

China solicits names for manned lunar exploration vehicles

From rice to quantum gas: China's targets pioneering space research

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Intelsat Inflight Connectivity expanded to all Airbus aircraft

Intelsat Adds European Capacity with Telespazio's Fucino Space Centre in Italy

Germany blocks full Chinese takeover of satellite startup

Telesat, SpaceX announce agreement to launch satellites

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Gold and mercury, not books, for Venezuela's child miners

AI-driven tool makes it easy to personalize 3D-printable models

AWS ties up with ISRO and IN-SPACe to advance India's space capabilities with cloud technologies

Apple to update iPhone 12 in France over radiation

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Tiny sea creatures reveal the ancient origins of neurons

On the road to spotting alien life

Alleged bodies of 'non-human beings' shown in Mexican Congress

Webb discovers methane, carbon dioxide in atmosphere of K2-18 b

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Possible existence of Earth-like planet predicted in Outskirts of Solar System

SwRI will lead Hubble, Webb observations of Io, Jupiter's volcanic moon

In the service of planetary science, astrophysics and heliophysics

Mysterious Neptune dark spot detected from Earth for the first time

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.