Streets washed away – flood disaster in Libya: 20,000 feared dead

According to current knowledge, a dam broke above the city after heavy rainfall. Then a tidal wave swept through the city, which has 125,000 inhabitants, and washed entire streets into the sea.

30,000 people became homeless and the first aid supplies arrived
Following the catastrophic floods in Libya, a state of emergency remains in effect. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 30,000 people have been left homeless in Darna alone, and thousands in other cities. Aid group Care Libya said that with water levels of up to ten meters, the area around Darna was completely destroyed and communications and electricity networks were paralyzed. The mayor of Shahat spoke of about 20,000 square kilometers of flooded areas. The affected areas were declared disaster areas.

UN Team will Ort
A spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres in New York said they were working with local, national and international partners “to provide urgently needed humanitarian assistance to people in affected areas.” A UN team is on site. We are working with authorities to identify needs and support ongoing relief efforts. In addition to Darna, other cities such as Al-Baida, Al-Marj, Susa and Shahat were also affected. At the end of the general audience in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis commemorated the people of Libya and Morocco.

Two hostile governments in Libya – one based in the east and the other in the west – are currently fighting for power. All diplomatic attempts to peacefully resolve the civil war, which continues to this day, have so far failed. Numerous parties in the conflict are fighting for influence after former ruler Muammar al-Gaddafi was violently overthrown in 2011.

Catastrophe is also related to the political situation
According to Libya expert Wolfram Lacher of the Science and Politics Foundation (SWP), the catastrophe in the country is also related to the political situation: “The reason for the scale of the catastrophe is the breach of these two dams above Darna.” has been there for years and not enough has been invested in the infrastructure. Former Libyan ruler Gaddafi “punished the city because rebels had taken up arms there.” While some money has always flowed in recent years, “some of it went into the pockets of militia leaders and war profiteers.”

The Austrian Red Cross is now releasing 150,000 euros in emergency aid for the crisis regions in North Africa. “This is a first measure with which we can contribute to ensuring that the people affected by the disaster can be provided with urgently needed aids such as blankets or hot meals,” Red Cross Secretary General Michael Opriesnig said on Wednesday.

Aid supplies have arrived from the Gulf states of Qatar and Kuwait. An air force plane from Kuwait and the first two planes from the Gulf emirate of Qatar landed at an airport in the eastern city of Benghazi. There were more than 100 tons of relief supplies on board the three machines, including power generators, tents, food and medicine.

The EU also helps
The EU has sent the first aid supplies from Germany, Romania and Finland to the flood areas in Libya. Following the request for assistance from the Libyan authorities, the EU has activated its civil protection mechanism, the Commission announced in Brussels on Wednesday. The “tents, camp beds and blankets, 80 generators, food, field hospitals and water tanks” provided by the three EU members are on their way to Darna.

Libya has resumed its oil exports. The state oil company (NOC) reported production volumes of around 1.2 million barrels per day on Wednesday. Exports were interrupted in the oil-rich country on Sunday.