Libya Floods: UN Appeals For $71 Million Aid As Death Toll Rises To 11,000

By John Adoyi, PBA Journalism Mentee

 

The United Nations (UN) through its Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), on Thursday, appealed for $71 million donation for Libya flood victims.

READ ALSO: 3,000 Dead, 10,000 Missing As Storm Daniel Batters Libya

This is as death toll from the catastrophic flood has risen to 11 thousand with many more still missing.

According to OCHA, more than 250 thousand Libyans in the city of Derna, which was worst hit, are in urgent need of humanitarian aid, and if nothing is done within the next three months to provide a remedy for the situation, the death toll could significantly double.

Rescue operation in the city of Derna in North-east Libya is still on as rescuers search through piles of debris after heavy rainfall caused by Storm Daniel ravaged the area, resulting in the bursting of two dams, which flooded the city, sweeping away homes, structures, and families.

A UN official said the huge casualty would have been avoided if proper warnings were issued.

“If there was a normal operating meteorological service, they could have issued the warnings,” World Meteorological Organisation head Petteri Taalas told reporters in Geneva. “The emergency management authorities would have been able to carry out the evacuation,” he added.

Officials in the city of Derna pegged the death toll at 5,500 people as of Thursday. However, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said another 10,100 people are still missing.

The Mayor of Derna, Abdel-Moneim al-Ghaithi, said he fears that the death toll could rise to about 20 thousand due to the number of areas affected.

Describing the situation in Derna, the head of OCHA, and UN relief chief, Martin Griffiths said: “The scale of the flood disaster is shocking, with entire neighborhoods having been wiped off the map and whole families, taken by surprise, swept away in the deluge of water.”