Libya is experiencing an unprecedented castrophic situation!
From the eastern Mediterranean, on the night of Sunday to Monday September 11, the storm known as ‘Daniel’ recharged with moisture and energy to pour most of its force into Libya.
The storm, which started out as an ordinary low-pressure phenomenon, became more intense as a result of the high summer temperatures in the Mediterranean basin caused by global warming.
According to data from the European observatory Copernicus, the surface temperatures of the oceans, which have absorbed 90% of the excess heat generated since the industrial era, are rising drastically, resulting in unprecedented heat increases.
This passage caused considerable and deadly flooding, particularly in the city of Derna, which suffered a double blow following the breach of the dykes of two dams upstream from the city.
This breach, coupled with the already extensive flooding, caused large mudslides engulfing the former capital of Cyrenaica.
To date, 3,200 people have been reported dead, around 7,000 injured and more than 2,400 missing in a city with a population of over 100,000.
Since the demise of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has been plunged into instability, with two authorities claiming power. In the east, Khalifa Haftar heads an authority that is not recognised by the international community, while in the west, a UN-backed authority is officially recognised.
The arrival of international aid, although necessary, is hampered by the presence of armed factions that have proliferated in the country. These militias have taken advantage of the chaos to establish themselves in the towns, some of them with affiliations to radical Islamic movements, as was the case in Derna with “Ansar al-Sharia”.
Anas El Gomati, one of MDI’s first guests and founder of Libya’s leading think tank Sadeq Institute, spoke about the situation in his native country.