An aid worker on the ground in Libya reflects on the devastating floodingSCOTT SIMON, HOST:It has been a horrible week in the northeast of Libya. BASHIR BEN AMER: Thank you. The city, the whole city, the city center that was on the coastal area that was - unfortunately doesn't exist anymore today. We're speaking about a city that's - its infrastructure is completely destructed - water, electricity, telecommunication, schools. So, yes, you can imagine how horrible is it and overwhelming as well for the rescue teams, for the aid teams and for everyone.

Mr Hassan said he was awakened by the screams of people at around 3.30am local time on Monday. He woke his son sleeping nearby in their apartment, less than 100 metres from Derna's shoreline and quickly went up to the roof. We hope to find survivors, but our main mission is to help the Libyans find and recover their bodies. Another volunteer, Hassan Humaid, also arrived from Tripoli and said Libyans were grateful for the help from their Arab brothers. “Libyans, especially from Derna, had experienced so much for so many decades but they’re a resilient people.

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Heavy rains caused by Mediterranean storm Daniel caused deadly flooding across eastern Libya last weekend. “It was a big number … the sea is still ejecting lots of dead bodies unfortunately,” she told The Associated Press. Since 2014, eastern Libya has been under the control of Gen. Khalifa Hifter and his self-styled Libyan National Army. But there was no warning about the dams, which collapsed early Monday as most residents were asleep in their homes. A Turkish firm was contracted in 2007 to carry out maintainence on the two dams and build another dam in between.

Heavy rains caused by Mediterranean storm Daniel caused deadly flooding across eastern Libya last weekend. DERNA, LIBYA - SEPTEMBER 15: A view of devastated area after the floods caused by the Storm Daniel ravaged the region in Derna, Libya on September 15, 2023. At least 6,000 people were killed and thousands of others remain missing due to last weekend's floods in eastern Libya, according to official figures. DERNA, LIBYA - SEPTEMBER 15: A view of graves of those who lost their lives in the flood caused by the Storm Daniel ravaged in Derna, Libya on September 15, 2023. Since 2014, eastern Libya has been under the control of Gen. Khalifa Hifter and his self-styled Libyan National Army.

"This is a disaster of epic proportions," Dr. Ahmed Zouiten, a WHO representative in Libya, said in a statement. The Libyan Red Crescent said Friday that at least 11,300 people have died and another 10,100 were reported missing. Eastern Libya's health minister, Othman Abduljaleel, meanwhile said Friday the number of recorded deaths stood at 3,166. An assessment team visiting Derna on Thursday said people were returning to what was left of their homes in desperation. The group's medical coordinator for Libya said the situation is chaotic with volunteers coming from everywhere in Libya to help, leaving an enormous need for coordination.

But watching them does prepare you for the scale of the damage the floods have done to this place. The line of the river now gapes like an open wound, perhaps a hundred metres across in places. On these mounds of mud, nothing at all remains. It's a barren wasteland.

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Read: Photos from Libya’s devastating floodsDerna has become an emblem of ills that afflict many of Libya’s 7 million inhabitants: infrastructural decay, economic neglect, unpreparedness for global warming. Derna’s officials and Haftar’s military authority reportedly issued contradictory instructions as the storm approached: Some advised an evacuation and others ordered a curfew. But Haftar’s style of rule—kleptocratic, authoritarian, extractive—has made for poor stewardship of eastern Libya’s infrastructure and natural environment, leaving other communities vulnerable to climate-induced extreme weather events as well. The authority has taken control of eastern Libya’s agriculture, energy, and construction, with dire consequences for the environment. Those that hit the eastern city of Al-Bayda in late 2020 displaced thousands of people.

VALLETTA : A Maltese rescue team found hundreds of dead bodies on a beach in the flood-stricken Libyan city of Derna on Friday, the Malta Civil Protection Department said on Saturday. "There were probably about 400, but it is difficult to say," Natalino Bezzina, who is leading the Maltese team, told the Times of Malta newspaper. Malta deployed a team of 72 rescuers from the army and the civil protection department on Wednesday. Bezzina told Maltese media that a small CPD team came across the cave that was half submerged and found bodies inside. Then they came across a small bay filled with debris and several hundred dead bodies.

DERNA, Libya – Aid groups are warning of a growing risk of disease in the wake of deadly flooding that hit eastern Libya on Sept 10. Hopes are meanwhile dwindling of finding more survivors after torrential rain triggered by a hurricane-strength storm hit the area. The flood submerged the port city of Derna, washing thousands of people and homes out to sea. “This is a disaster of epic proportions,” said Mr Ahmed Zouiten, the WHO’s representative in Libya. Islamic Relief warned of a second humanitarian crisis after the flood, pointing to the growing risk of waterborne diseases and shortages of food, shelter and medicine.

An aerial view shows the destruction, in the aftermath of the floods in Derna, Libya September 16. The state knew of this well, whether through experts in the Public Water Commission or the foreign companies that came to assess the dam," he said. In his report, hydrologist Ashour cites an unpublished 2006 study from the Water Resources Ministry on "the danger of the situation." The Turkish company, Arsel, lists a project on its website to repair the Derna dams as having begun in 2007 and been completed in 2012. Even as the catastrophe was unfolding on Sunday night, the Water Resources Ministry issued a post on its Facebook page telling residents not to worry.

The BBC and the rest of Britain’s establishment media have been firing out these terms like bullets from a machine gun. But what the BBC and the rest of the Western media have carefully avoided mentioning is why. Slave marketsThe self-congratulatory mood among Britain’s political and media class, burnishing the West’s “humanitarian” credentials, was evident across the media. As Declassified reported, after biding their time British oil giants BP and Shell returned to Libya’s oilfields last year. But with the help of Western media like the BBC, the reasons for their misery remain as murky as the flood waters.

People search for flood victims in Derna, Libya, Friday, Sept. 15, 2023. People search for flood victims in Derna, Libya, Friday, Sept. 15, 2023. Search teams are combing streets, wrecked buildings, and even the sea to look for bodies in Derna, where the collapse of two dams unleashed a massive flash flood that killed thousands of people. People search for flood victims in Derna, Libya, Friday, Sept. 15, 2023. People search for flood victims in Derna, Libya, Friday, Sept. 15, 2023.

Storm Daniel was Greece's worst storm in recorded history but for Libya it would trigger a disaster of unimaginable scale. Facebook Facebook , which may be using cookies and other technologies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Facebook cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Facebook cookies. To view this content you can use the button below to allow Facebook cookies for this session only.