Humanitarian crisis Archives

Libya floods: People in Derna use bare hands to dig for survivors – as number of dead rises to 11,300

After years of strife, weak and corrupt governance, corruption and negligence, the Libyan authorities were simply not up to preparing for or coping with a disaster of this magnitude – and it is the Libyan people who’ve been killed, or left displaced in their thousands.

Libyan civilians ‘digging bodies out themselves’

Libya is a country in anguish.

Her people are suffering a fresh kind of horror after years of civil war, fighting, corruption, greed and people smuggling.

Now floods have devastated the port city of Derna and the communities and villagers around.

And what’s so much worse is that the natural disaster caused by Storm Daniel, which has been sweeping across European countries, has been compounded by a man-made catastrophe.

The number of deaths has soared to 11,300 in Derna, Libyan Red Crescent said on Thursday.

Those in Derna, the worst-affected town, are calling it a disaster of “biblical proportions”.

Civilians in the town have been using their bare hands to try to dig for survivors… instead they’re finding just the remains of victims.

The airport at Benghazi has been bustling with people trying to get home or go to the area themselves to track down missing relatives. There are an estimated 10,000 unaccounted for.

It’s hard to know exact figures but the civilians on the ground are stunned and terrified at the scale of the devastation this torrent of water caused.

They expect the death toll to rise still but with little coordination on the ground, accurate figures are tough to come by.

The collapse of not one but two dams in Derna unleashed a terrible violent water force which upended vehicles, tore down houses, apartment blocks and schools.

One shocked survivor showed us pictures of the utterly flattened muddy landscape in front of him where dozens of buildings once stood.

“They’ve all just gone… Derna has gone,” Maged told us.

“I can’t believe it. I’ve lived 27 years or so in Britain but I was working on my retirement home here in Derna where I am from. It used to be beautiful. Now there’s nothing left. I don’t even know if I can stay here now. The memories are just too hard.”

Another survivor told us of the despair at the complete destruction of the area.

“It is a disaster of biblical proportions”, Mere Bijou said.

“And our government is to blame… anyone in charge in Libya is to blame. Everyone knew Storm Daniel was coming but they did nothing about it. They didn’t protect us, they didn’t try to save us, they didn’t do anything.”

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/libya-floods-people-in-derna-use-bare-hands-to-dig-for-survivors-but-find-only-remains-12961295

Libya floods: Entire neighbourhoods dragged into the sea

Rescue teams in Libya are struggling to retrieve the bodies of victims that have been swept out to sea in tsunami-like flood waters.

At least 2,300 have been killed, according to the ambulance authority in Derna, the worst affected city.

Two dams and four bridges collapsed in Derna, submerging much of the city when Storm Daniel hit on Sunday.

About 10,000 people are reported missing, the Red Crescent says, and the death toll is expected to rise further.

Some aid has started to arrive, including from Egypt, but rescue efforts have been hampered by the political situation in Libya, with the country split between two rival governments.

The US, Germany, Iran, Italy, Qatar and Turkey are among the countries that have said they have sent or are ready to send aid.

Video footage recorded after dark on Sunday shows a river of floodwater churning through the city with cars bobbing helplessly in the current.

There are harrowing stories of people being swept out to sea, while others clung onto rooftops to survive.

“I was shocked by what I saw, it’s like a tsunami,” Hisham Chkiouat, from Libya’s eastern-based government, said.

He told BBC Newshour that the collapse of one of the dams to the south of Derna had dragged large parts of the city into the sea.

“A massive neighbourhood has been destroyed – there is a large number of victims, which is increasing each hour.”

Kasim Al-Qatani, an aid worker in the town of Bayda, told the BBC’s Newsnight programme it was difficult for rescuers to reach Derna as most of the main paths into the city were “out of service because of huge damage”.

An investigation has been launched into why the floods were able to cause such devastation, he said, adding that 2.5bn Libyan Dinar (£412m; $515m) would be given to help rebuild Derna and the eastern city of Benghazi.

The cities of Soussa, Al-Marj and Misrata were also affected by Sunday’s storm.

Water engineering experts told the BBC it is likely the upper dam, around 12km (eight miles) from the city, had failed first, sending its water sweeping down the river valley towards the second dam, which lies closer to Derna – where neighbourhoods were inundated.

“At first we just thought it was heavy rain but at midnight we heard a huge explosion and it was the dam bursting,” Raja Sassi, who survived along with his wife and small daughter, told Reuters news agency.

Libyan journalist Noura Eljerbi, who is based in Tunisia told the BBC she only found out that around 35 of her relatives who all lived in the same apartment block in Derna were still alive after contacting a local rescue team.

“The house has been destroyed but my family managed to get out before things got worse. They are safe now,” she said.

Mr Qatani said there was no clean drinking water in Derna, and a lack of medical supplies.

He added that the only hospital in Derna could no longer take patients because “there are more than 700 dead bodies waiting in the hospital and it’s not that big”.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-66785466

Libya flooding: More than 5,300 feared dead after dams burst

Emergency workers have uncovered more than 1,500 bodies in the wreckage of the eastern city of Derna.

More than 5,300 people are feared dead after devastating flooding struck Libya.

A quarter of the eastern city of Derna was wiped out by floodwaters after dams burst as Storm Daniel hit the country, the local administration said, with more than 1,500 bodies recovered so far.

There are fears the number of those killed will rise further, with 10,000 people reported missing after entire neighbourhoods were washed away.

More than 5,300 people in Derna alone have been killed, according to Mohammed Abu-Lamousha, a spokesman for the east Libya interior ministry.

Cars stacked on top of each other. Pic: Libyan government via AP

Derna’s ambulance authority earlier put the number at 2,300.

Images showed a mass grave piled with bodies.

Disaster zone

Derna has been declared a disaster zone.

Tamer Ramadan, head of the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) in Libya, said: “We can confirm from our independent sources of information that the number of missing people is hitting 10,000 so far.

“The death toll is huge and might reach thousands.”

https://x.com/CIRA_CSU/status/1701657066627293503?s=20

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/libya-flooding-10-000-people-thought-to-be-missing-after-dams-burst-12959679

Powerful earthquake kills at least 296 people in Morocco

The earthquake struck late on Friday – damaging homes in major cities and sending panicked people pouring into the streets. Reports suggest some buildings in Marrakech have collapsed.

At least 296 people have been killed following a 6.8 magnitude earthquake in Morocco, officials have said.

Many of the fatalities are said to be in hard-to-reach areas south of Marrakech.

Many buildings have been reduced to rubble in Marrakech. Pic: Al Oula TV

The earthquake struck late on Friday – damaging buildings in major cities and sending panicked people pouring into the streets.

At least 153 people were injured and are being treated in hospital.

Witnesses in Marrakech told the Reuters news agency that some buildings have collapsed, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Big cracks were seen in a section of the medieval city’s walls.

Local television stations broadcast pictures of a fallen mosque minaret, with rubble lying on smashed cars. Others were seen screaming as they ran out of shopping centres and restaurants.

Officials are working to clear roads so ambulances and aid can reach those affected – but large distances between mountain villages mean it will take time to learn the full extent of the damage.

Montasir Itri, a resident in the mountain village of Asni not far from the epicentre, said most houses were damaged – adding: “Our neighbours are under the rubble and people are working hard to rescue them using available means in the village.”

Aftershocks have been reported – with men, women and children staying out in the streets, frightened of further quakes.

According to the US Geological Survey, the epicentre was high in the Atlas Mountains – about 43 miles (70km) away from Marrakech, a popular tourist destination.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/earthquake-in-morocco-has-killed-dozens-of-people-officials-say-12957757

Seven killed, 144 wounded in Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s Chernihiv

Seven people including a 6-year-old girl were killed, 144 wounded, and 41 were in hospital after a Russian missile struck a central square in the historic northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv on Saturday, Ukrainian officials said.

“I am sure our soldiers will give a response to Russia for this terrorist attack,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address, delivered early on Sunday at the end of a visit to Sweden. “A notable response.”

He said that of the 144 people injured, 15 were children, and named the girl killed as Sofia. Fifteen others were police officers, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram. Klymenko said most of the victims were in vehicles, crossing the road, or returning from church.

Regional governor Viacheslav Chaus said 41 people were in hospital on Saturday.

Zelenskiy said the strike on Chernihiv, a city of leafy boulevards and centuries-old churches about 145 km (90 miles) north of Kyiv, coincided with the Orthodox holiday of the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord.

Debris was scattered across a square in front of the damaged theatre and surrounding buildings, where parked vehicles were heavily damaged. A 63-year-old who only gave her first name, Valentyna, showed the damaged balcony in her apartment opposite the theatre.

“It is horrific. Horrific. There were wounded, ambulances and broken glass in here. Nightmare. Just nightmare,” she said.

Rescuers work at a site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Chernihiv, Ukraine August 19, 2023. National Police/Handout via REUTERS

The roof of the neoclassical theatre was torn off by the strike.

Russia has attacked Ukrainian cities far from the frontline with missiles and drones as part of the full-scale invasion that began in February 2022.

People leaving church and others passing by were among those hurt when the missile hit the theatre, where a meeting was taking place, Chaus said.

Law enforcement agencies were looking into how Russians became aware of the event, which he said included business and community representatives but Ukrainian media reported involved drone manufacturers. Both sides have widely used drones on the battlefield.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-missile-strike-ukraine-city-chernihiv-kills-people-zelenskiy-says-2023-08-19/

At least 27 die in inferno at petrol station in Dagestan southern Russia

At least 27 people have been killed in an explosion and fire at a petrol station in Dagestan in southern Russia.

The blast occurred in the regional capital Makhachkala, which sits on the coast of the Caspian Sea, at 21:40 local time (18:40 GMT).

Dozens of other people were injured in the incident, the cause of which is not yet clear.

Pictures showed a large fire lighting up the night sky and a number of fire engines at the scene.

Some 260 emergency workers have been deployed, as has an aircraft to evacuate the seriously injured to Moscow, the ministry said.

Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted doctors as saying three children were among the dead.

It added that the fire had spread over an area of 600 sq m (6,460 sq ft) and that there was a danger of further explosions.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66505961

Myanmar coup: Thousands of Burmese flee to Thailand after intense fighting

Burmese refugees have fled across to border to Thailand

Some 10,000 Burmese people have fled to Thailand to escape fierce fighting between the military and units of a powerful ethnic armed group since Wednesday, Thai authorities said.

They are fleeing from Shwe Kokko town, controlled by a pro-military militia and home to Chinese-owned casinos.

This is one of the largest cross-border movements of people since a military coup two years ago.

The military has not released a statement yet about the fighting.

It is the latest in a civil war that has been raging since the coup in February 2021. Two years on, the military government has failed to impose its authority on large areas of the country. It is battling established ethnic armed groups in border areas that have been at war with the military for decades, and recently-formed anti-coup militias that call themselves People’s Defence Forces (PDFs) in much of the rest of the country.

Many thousands of people have been killed and some 1.4 million have been displaced since the coup. Nearly one third of the country’s population is in need of aid, according to the United Nations.

The latest fighting broke out after the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and its allies launched attacks on military outposts and a gate camp near Shwe Kokko on Wednesday. More than 80 people have been killed on both sides, KNLA told BBC Thai.

Aid workers in the border regions – Thailand’s Mae Sot and Mae Ramat areas – have called for urgent humanitarian assistance as refugees seek shelter in schools, monasteries and rubber farms.

“In the long run, we need more donors,” said Kay Thi Htwe, a Burmese volunteer at a monastery in Mae Sot, which is hosting 500 refugees.

The KNLA has also closed the Myawaddy-Kawkareik Asia highway – one of the main roads to the border – for two weeks starting Friday.

Back in Shwe Kokko, the military-aligned Border Guard Forces which controls the enclave is protecting the casinos and warning residents to stay indoors.

This comes as the military continues to crush civilian resistance, targeting schools, clinics and villages.

Earlier this week, the military said it had arrested 15 teachers who had been giving online classes for a school backed by the exiled National Unity Government (NUG).

The teachers were taken from their homes in Mandalay, Saigang and Magway, a member of the General Strike Committee of Basic Education Workers told the BBC. In July, about 30 teachers were reportedly arrested because they worked for an NUG-recognised online school.

From the start, education has been a battleground in Myanmar. Teachers were among the first, along with health-workers, to walk out in protest against the coup, and were in the front line of the huge protests called by the Civil Disobedience Movement in the first weeks after the military takeover.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-65210336