UVA Community Responds to Libyan Humanitarian Crisis With Hearts and Minds
Mediterranean storm Daniel collapsed two dams in eastern Libya, allowing 20-foot waves to breach the port city of Derna. Before the storm, there were already over 300,000 people in Libya who were in need of humanitarian aid,” Gelsdorf said. Among his many roles at UVA, Petri serves as the Wade Hampton Professor of Medicine and performs on-the-ground health research and outreach in foreign nations. Dams Serve as Cautionary ReminderRight away, Libya will need an extraordinary influx of funds to cover its most pressing human needs. Then it will need more, to cover the costs of reliable infrastructure that will prevent such floods in the future.
Source:Libya Today
September 18, 2023 20:08 UTC
More than 100 Syrians dead in Libya flood: monitor
More than 100 Syrians, including entire families, died in flash flooding that killed thousands in Libya's eastern city of Derna last week, a war monitor said. Thousands of Syrians fled their war-torn homeland over the past 12 years for Libya, which has become a launchpad for migrants hoping to make the perilous voyage to Europe by sea. "In total, 112 Syrians were killed in the flood and more than 100 are still missing," said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor. The flooding has killed nearly 3,300 people and left thousands more missing as war-scarred Libya was lashed by the hurricane-strength Storm Daniel on September 10. Families of Syrians who disappeared in the tragedy have been sharing photographs of their relatives on Facebook groups, asking for their whereabouts.
Source:Libya Today
September 18, 2023 19:47 UTC
Statement from President Joe Biden Announcing Additional Humanitarian Support to Libya After Floods
Today—as the people of eastern Libya continue to recover and rebuild in the aftermath of catastrophic flooding— the United States will provide an additional $11 million to local and international organizations responding to their urgent humanitarian needs. The Department of State and USAID will help coordinate the delivery of this aid to the people who need it most, joining the concerted efforts of nations and non-profits around the world providing critical support such as water, food, shelter, and medical assistance. And—as the United States continues to stand with the Libyan people during this difficult hour—we remain committed to supporting a political path toward a unified, freely and fairly elected government in Libya that can effectively respond to its people’s needs.
Source:Libya Today
September 18, 2023 19:12 UTC
'We Have Lost Our Beloved Ones,' Says Libya Flood Survivor
Since then, Albah and his brother-in-law have been searching, at first for their loved ones and now for their loved ones’ bodies. “We only found two girls from the four children of my sister,” Albah said. “Just they could help their own beloved ones. “Tomorrow I will hear about new beloved ones who died so that I will forget about the ones I heard today,” Albah said. “We have lost our beloved ones,” he said.
Source:Libya Today
September 18, 2023 18:43 UTC
Libyan government officials face harsh criticism for response to flooding
Libyan government officials face harsh criticism for response to floodingOld infrastructure and a civil war have combined in Libya to make flooding from a storm deadly. And when I spoke to Asma Khalifa, a Libyan activist and researcher based in Sweden, she said now Libyan officials are treating the response to the floods like a war, with curfews and checkpoints, and it's hindering relief efforts. ASMA KHALIFA: It basically cripples a country's effective, quick response to a disaster and relieving its population. The dam have been flagged as vulnerable for a long, long time now by people who live in the valley. There has been a report from the anti-corruption authority in 2021 that shows that the government actually allocated money for repairs.
Source:Libya Today
September 18, 2023 18:16 UTC
International teams treat injured, search for survivors in Libya
French rescue workers have set up a field hospital in Libya’s flood-ravaged Derna, while teams from around the world including Russia, Algeria, and Jordan continue to comb through the rubble of damaged buildings in search of survivors a week after two nearby dams collapsed and saw a tsunami-sized flash flood that tear through the city.
Source:Libya Today
September 18, 2023 18:14 UTC
Libya flood: One week on and new victims are still being found
A week after a tsunami-sized flash flood devastated the Libyan coastal city of Derna, sweeping thousands to their deaths, the international aid effort to help the grieving survivors slowly gathered pace Sunday. UN Libya envoy Abdoulaye Bathily visited Derna on Saturday, and posted on X, formerly Twitter, that the devastation was "truly heart-wrenching. The massive flood came as Libya was lashed on September 10 by the hurricane-strength Storm Daniel, which had earlier brought deadly floods to Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria. Bodies on the beachA week after the disaster, bodies are still washing up on the shore, along with vast amounts of debris. The scale of the devastation in Derna and surrounding areas has prompted shows of solidarity across divided Libya, as volunteers in Tripoli have collected aid for the flood victims.
Source:Libya Today
September 18, 2023 17:55 UTC
UN warns of disease threat in flood-ravaged east Libya
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 United Nations said. Libya’s disease control centre banned citizens in the disaster zone from drinking water from local mains, warning that it is “polluted”. “The buildings, the neighbourhood, the villagers, the sheikhs... the wadi has returned to the state it was 1,000 years ago. Libyan officials and humanitarian groups have warned, however, that the final toll could be much higher, with thousands still missing. On Monday the Tripoli-based government said it launched work to build a temporary bridge that would span the river that cuts through Derna.
Source:Libya Today
September 18, 2023 17:43 UTC
U.N. warns Libya could face "second devastating crisis" if disease spreads in decimated Derna
A man walks past the rubble of a destroyed building in Libya's eastern city of Derna, Sept. 18, 2023, following deadly flash floods. MAHMUD TURKIA/AFP/GettyLibya's disease control center banned citizens in the disaster zone from drinking water from local mains, warning that it is "polluted." Rescue teams walk in a destroyed area in Libya's eastern city of Derna, Sept. 18, 2023, following deadly flash floods. The health minister of the divided country's eastern administration, Othman Abdeljalil, has said 3,283 people were confirmed dead in Derna. On Monday the Tripoli-based government said it launched work to build a temporary bridge that would span the river that cuts through Derna.
Source:Libya Today
September 18, 2023 17:42 UTC
UN warns disease outbreak in Libya’s flooded east could spark ‘a second devastating crisis’
Some 11,300 city residents were killed and a further 10,000 people are missing, presumed dead, the country’s Red Crescent said. Haider al-Saeih, head of Libya’s Center for Combating Diseases, said in televised comments Saturday that at least 150 people suffered diarrhea after drinking contaminated water in Derna. Cyrene is one of five Libyan UNESCO World Heritage sites. Also Monday, UNESCO said it was concerned about the state of ruins of Cyrene, an ancient Greco-Roman city that lies roughly 37 miles east of Derna. Cyrene is one of five Libyan UNESCO World Heritage sites.
Source:Libya Today
September 18, 2023 16:51 UTC
Preventable flood? Experts in Libya warned of dam collapse for years.
Experts had long said that floods posed a significant danger to two dams meant to protect nearly 90,000 people in the northeast of Libya. They repeatedly called for immediate maintenance to the two structures, located just uphill from the coastal city of Derna. Neglect and corruption are rife in Libya, a country of about 7 million people that lies on a wealth of proven oil and natural gas reserves. The Derna dam, also known as Belad, is much closer to the city and could hold 1.5 million cubic meters of water. At a news conference in the stricken city, Mr.
Source:Libya Today
September 18, 2023 16:43 UTC
‘We’ll Start Digging Here’
A child's cloth doll, with yarn hair and red and gingham clothing, rests amid the rubble in Derna, Libya. After the 2011 France-owned and NATO-led overthrow of the Libyan government and subsequent civil war, Libya turned into what political analysts refer to as a failed state. A family of four, including children, stand on a hill as they look toward the destroyed city of Derna, Libya, with the sea on the horizon. El Hardi kneels next to his dog Rock, amid tangled piles of rubble, water, and some intact buildings, during their search in Derna, Libya. “We’ll start digging here.”
Source:Libya Today
September 18, 2023 16:32 UTC
3 members of Greek humanitarian mission in eastern Libya die in traffic accident
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Source:Libya Today
September 18, 2023 14:58 UTC
For a Divided Libya, Disastrous Floods Have Become a Rallying Cry for Unity
For many Libyans, the collective grief over the more than 11,000 dead has morphed into a rallying cry for national unity in a country blighted by 12 years of conflict and division. The oil-rich country has been divided between rival administrations since 2014, with an internationally recognized government in Tripoli and a rival authority in the east, where Derna is located. "The wound or pain of what happened in Derna hurt all the people from western Libya to southern Libya to eastern Libya," he said. Gen. Khalifa Hifter's forces besieged Tripoli in a yearlong failed military campaign to try to capture the capital, killing thousands. The Prime Minister of Libya's Tripoli government, Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah, said he and his ministers were accountable for the dams' maintenance, but not the thousands of deaths caused by the flooding.
Source:Libya Today
September 18, 2023 14:44 UTC
5 things to know for Sept. 18: Lee aftermath, Government shutdown, Strikes, UN, Libya
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Source:Libya Today
September 18, 2023 14:21 UTC