DERNA, Libya (AP) 鈥 A year since two dams burst upstream from the eastern Libyan city of Derna, unleashing a wall of water that swept away thousands of people, its residents no longer hold out hope of finding many of their loved ones.
For Libya, the disaster on the night of Sept. 10 was unprecedented as torrential rains from Mediterranean storm Daniel . Those who survived in the coastal city recount nightmarish scenes, with bodies piling up quicker than authorities could count them.
Mohsen al-Sheikh, a 52-year-old actor and theater administrator, lost 103 of his extended family, many of whose bodies were not recovered. Even those retrieved can be nearly impossible to identify. Of the nine members of his cousin's family who drowned, only four were identifiable.
Scores of other families were also nearly wiped out, with only a few surviving members, al-Sheikh says. 鈥淭hose who were found were found, and those who weren鈥檛, weren鈥檛.鈥
Now, the townspeople and city officials are trying to rebuild even though they will never bury those who disappeared forever.
Deadly flooding in Derna's riverbed valley
Residents of Derna woke up to the loud explosions of the two dams breaking. What followed was a living nightmare.
The surging waters, two stories high, wiped out entire neighborhoods, roads, bridges and residential buildings across the port city. Thousands of people were instantly washed away, drowning within minutes, and tens of thousands more were displaced.
Estimates from , and the number of missing people between 9,000 and 10,000. Another 30,000 were displaced.
Houses in the al-Maghar neighborhood, where al-Sheikh lives, were built on a hillside of a dry riverbed valley, where the water rushed into. The slope meant many houses had a lower and upper entrance on opposite sides 鈥 a design that al-Maghar had come up with many years earlier. Some fleeing families used the back doors to escape to higher ground.
Al-Maghar鈥檚 design may have saved hundreds during the flooding, although it wasn't built to serve an emergency purpose. That night, many also fled by running into their neighbors鈥 homes and up the hill, through the higher-level doors.
Derna residents ended up calling them 鈥渢he doors of safety.鈥
That night, Shaker Alhusni left his own home to help a neighbor, only to return and find his house full of water. His family was able to flee to higher floors.
A found that the torrential rains were 50 times more likely to occur and 50% more intense because of human-caused climate change. The analysis was conducted by the World Weather Attribution group, which aims to quickly evaluate the possible role of climate change in extreme weather events.
In late July, Libya鈥檚 criminal court responsible for managing the country鈥檚 dam facilities for . Sentences ranged between nine to 29 years in prison, according to Libya鈥檚 Attorney General鈥檚 Office. 賺
Rebuilding amid political uncertainty
The oil-rich Libya , when , backed by NATO, ousted , who was later killed.
Derna, with its diverse mix of residents of Turkish, Andalusian and Cretan origin, was for years a cultural center of the North African country. But it was also deeply affected by Libya's civil war and more than a decade of unrest. For several years after the 2011 uprising, it fell under the influence of the Islamic State group and other extremists.
Now, one of Libya鈥檚 rival authorities is putting serious resources into rebuilding Derna 鈥 the east-based government and the forces of Gen. Khalifa Hifter and his self-styled Libyan 香港六合彩挂牌资料 Army. A rival administration is based in the capital of Tripoli, to the west, and enjoys the support of most of the international community.
Last September, the east-based Libyan parliament agreed to allocate 10 billion Libyan dinars (around $2 billion) to launch a development fund that would help rebuild Derna and impacted areas around the city.
A city committee for maintenance and reconstruction began building new homes and provided financial compensation for the survivors, including Al-Sheikh.
Across Derna's riverbed, widened by the floodwaters, al-Sahaba Bridge is being rebuilt along with al-Sahaba Mosque next door.
There are plans to build 280 apartments for those who lost their homes, according to Salem al-Sheikh, an engineer at the construction site that's part of a residential project launched in May. Al-Sheikh told The Associated Press that 60% of reconstruction works across Derna has been completed.
More support for the survivors
International observers say that the country needs much more support to help the coastal city get back to a semblance of the life it once had.
鈥淭here remains a critical need for coordinated, effective and efficient reconstruction and long-term development,鈥 said Stephanie Koury, head of the U.N.鈥檚 mission to Libya, or UNSMIL, said in a statement marking the first anniversary of Derna's disaster.
In July, Liz Throssell, spokesperson for the U.N. Human Rights Office, said reconstruction efforts and helping authorities identify human remains are crucial.
鈥淲e reiterate the calls of affected communities for coordinated, transparent, and national efforts for reconstruction," she said. 鈥淚t is crucial to provide assistance ... in the identification of human remains and the dignified reburial of the bodies.鈥
Plans to rebuild the dams were being discussed last year, but it remains unconfirmed whether those plans will move forward.
That leaves al-Sheikh uncertain whether he'll be able to return to his house or will it be completely demolished like others that remain along the Derna Valley to avoid another similar tragedy in the future.
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Associated Press writer Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.
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