On Wednesday, the Libyan Parliament-designated government announced the establishment of a fund, for the reconstruction of the flood-ravaged city of Derna.
It said in a statement that it would organize a conference, on 10 October for the reconstruction of Derna. This conference “will open doors for international companies to provide the best designs suitable for the city’s nature and terrain.” It also invited the international community to participate in the conference.
The eastern-based government has not specified how the new fund will be financed, but the parliament, has already allocated 10 billion dinars ($2 billion USD) for reconstruction projects.
Libya has been plagued by divisions since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011. The country is currently being governed by two competing administrations; one in the west, led by Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba, and the other in the east led by Osama Hammad, supported by the Parliament and the Libyan National Army (LNA).
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 Organization for Migration (IOM) announced that the floods in northeastern Libya have forced an estimated 43,059 individuals to flee their homes.