Tripoli - Brussels: Agencies - Europe and the Arabs
The United Nations announced that the death toll from catastrophic floods in the city of Derna in eastern Libya has risen to 11,300 people.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs added on Sunday that another 10,100 people were still missing, noting that elsewhere in eastern Libya outside Derna, floods claimed the lives of an additional 170 people.
According to the Russia Today website, the Libyan National Center for Disease Control had declared a state of health emergency in the affected cities for a full year.
This decision comes after the director of the Center for Disease Control in Libya said that there is a shortage of medical personnel treating flood victims in the affected cities.
The Libyan authorities reported that the damage suffered by the city of Derna as a result of the devastating hurricane that struck it has so far amounted to the destruction of 6,142 buildings, including 1,500 damaged buildings.
The Libyan News Agency quoted the Libyan Emergency Team’s statement in preliminary statistics as saying that the number of completely destroyed buildings in the city of Derna amounted to 891 buildings, while the partially destroyed buildings amounted to 211 buildings, while the buildings that were submerged in mud were estimated at about 398 buildings.
The statement indicated that the total area of the area inundated by torrents and floods in Derna was estimated at 6 square kilometers.
On the other hand, the Saudi News Agency "SPA" reported on Saturday that the first Saudi relief plane had left for Libya to help those affected by the floods and Hurricane "Daniel."
According to SPA, the Saudi relief plane departed from King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, heading to Benina International Airport in the city of Benghazi, carrying 90 tons of food and shelter aid to be distributed to those affected by the floods witnessed by the sisterly state of Libya, according to the mechanisms followed by the center. This is in implementation of the directives of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and his Crown Prince, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, to the King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Aid to provide food and shelter aid to relieve those affected by the floods.
A specialized team from the center will supervise the aid delivery process in coordination with the Libyan Red Crescent, according to SPA.
It is noteworthy that last Sunday, the Mediterranean Hurricane “Daniel” swept several areas in eastern Libya, most notably the cities of Benghazi, Al-Bayda, and Al-Marj, in addition to Sousse and Derna, and caused the collapse of two dams in Derna, whose waters swept away parts of the city, along with its buildings and infrastructure.