The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) has committed an additional one million Swiss francs, to assist the victims of Hurricane Daniel in the disaster-stricken regions of eastern Libya. The aid package will include essential medical relief supplies.
In a statement released by Swiss Info, the website affiliated with the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, it clarified that it has offered the United Nations the dispatch of relief supplies and experts from Swiss humanitarian relief agencies.
Although the SSDC does not have a presence within Libya, they carry out their humanitarian operations from neighbouring Tunisia.
Last week, the agency announced its intention to provide financial support to both local and international partners. This is to meet the urgent needs of the victims of the massive floods that hit Derna, and other areas in eastern Libya.
On Tuesday, the Minister of Economy, Mohamed Al-Hwaij launched an initiative to house displaced families. He has directed the opening of a bank account specifically for this initiative.
Al-Hwaij also called for the participation of the ministry-affiliated bodies, the chambers of commerce from all regions, and the Council of Business Owners in the initiative. This will be under the supervision of the committee, and the chambers of commerce in the affected areas.
On 10 September, a devastating storm swept through several eastern regions of Libya, notably the cities of Derna, Benghazi, Al-Bayda, Al-Marj, and Sousse. This resulted in significant destruction and led to the loss of thousands of lives, injuries, and missing individuals.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres has called a flood that killed thousands in Derna, Libya a “symbol of the world’s ills.”
“Even as we speak now, bodies are washing ashore from the same Mediterranean sea where billionaires sunbathe on their super yachts,” Guterres said in the opening of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, on Tuesday.
“Derna is a sad snapshot of the state of our world – the flood of inequity, of injustice, of inability to confront the challenges in our midst,” he added.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) announced that the floods in northeastern Libya have forced an estimated 43,059 individuals to flee their homes.