At least 8,000 people have died in flash floods that tore through Libya, Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
Thousands more are feared missing after entire buildings were “wiped out” when a seven-meter wave hit the northern coastal city of Derna, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Thursday.
However, some media reports have quoted officials giving higher tolls. The mayor of Derna estimated between 18,000 and 20,000 people have died in the floods.
Abdulmenam Al-Ghaithi told al-Arabiya TV these figures were based on the number of districts completely destroyed when two dams burst at the weekend.
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More grave diggers are desperately required in Derna, human rights activists said, as they struggled to contain the number of bodies that need burying.
Abu Bakr Al-Rifadi told Libyan state news agency LANA that “the torrent waters caused the city of Derna to be divided into western and eastern halves.”
Ali Al-Ghazali, who runs the Namaa Organization in Derna, said the torrents annihilated at least 25% of the city.
He added that the city center – where all the shops, clinics, schools, main roads and historical sites are located – “was the hardest hit.”
“It is totally destroyed. Right now, foreign teams are in the city to try to help. But unfortunately, there are way too many dead bodies in the streets. Now, on the third day, most bodies are decomposing. The smell of death is in the air.
“I lost relatives in the flooding. My wife’s first cousins. Entire families were killed. My wife is undergoing cancer treatment. After the flooding, we moved her to Benghazi, so that she could continue her treatment,” al-Ghazali added.
The unprecedented rainfall engulfed cities in the North African nation last week, rupturing two dams in the country’s northeast and sending a deluge of water to Derna, which has seen the worst of the devastation.
Meanwhile, the United Nations has said most of the deaths in flash floods that tore through Libya could have been “avoided,” as relief workers struggle to deliver crucial aid in a humanitarian effort stifled by political divisions and debris from the disaster.
