Post-floods situation in Libya 'human catastrophe': Pakistan

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Pakistan called the post-flood situation Wednesday in Libya a "human catastrophe" and a "terrible tragedy."

It said Islamabad is in touch with the International Committee of the Red Cross about how it can offer assistance to Libya in these "difficult" circumstances.

"People of Pakistan are deeply concerned," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mumtaz Zehra Baloch said at a news conference in Islamabad.

"We have expressed our sympathies with the people of Libya,” she said.

According to the UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, at least 3,958 people have died in Libya from flooding as it revised a previous death toll of 11,300.

More than 40,000 people have been displaced in northeastern areas, said the UN office.

Derna was the hardest hit by the flooding after the city’s dams burst, washing away homes and people.

The floods caused by Storm Daniel are unprecedented in the Maghreb region, the Arab world, or globally in the 21st century.