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Magnum Digest

Moises Saman Documents the Effects of Devastating Floods in Libya

A slideshow of images from Moises Saman's documentation of the catastrophic aftermath of devastating floods in Libya, on assignment for the Wall Street Journal and UNFPA.

A Libyan volunteer worker searching for bodies walks through a street covered in mud and debris in one of the hardest-hit neighborhoods of Derna. Libya, September 21, 2023.

A flower pot remains amidst the mud and debris covering a hospital room. Al Bayyada, Libya, September 19, 2023.

5 year-old Asil, a boy belonging to a family displaced from Derna, sits in a hallway at the Asmaa Bint Abi Talib school in Al Bayda, now transformed into a temporary shelter for families displaced (...)

Iman and her 7-year-old son Asil, from Derna, sit in a classroom at the Asmaa Bint Abi Talib school in Al Bayda, which has transformed into a temporary shelter for families displaced by the floods (...)

A young boy sits under a mosquito net in a room he shares with six other members of his family. The boy, a Libyan-born child of African migrants living in eastern Libya, and his family, lost most o (...)

A man trying to find his home surveys the destruction caused by the floods in one of the hardest-hit neighborhoods of the city. Derna, Libya, September 21, 2023.

A member of a Hungarian search and rescue team sits with his trained dogs amid the rubble of buildings destroyed by the floods in Derna. Libya, September 21, 2023.

Residents of Derna in one of the hardest-hit neighborhoods affected by the devastating floods. Libya, September 21, 2023.

Libyan Boy Scouts organized games for children and food distribution for families affected by the floods in Derna. Libya, September 21, 2023.

A young man sits next to the entrance to his home destroyed by the devastating floods in Derna, Libya. September 22, 2023.

Men carry belongings that they salvaged from their home in an area of Derna. Libya, September 22, 2023.

Body bags containing unidentified bodies found at sea near Derna are placed in a mass grave for victims of the flood in the town of Martuba. Libya, September 24, 2023.

A Libyan volunteer worker searching for bodies walks through a street covered in mud and debris in one of the hardest-hit neighborhoods of Derna. Libya, September 21, 2023.

Adel Al Tishani, a local resident of Derna, surveys the damage in an area of Derna where his extended Al Tishani clan used to live. Hundreds of Al Tishani family members died in the devastating flo (...)

Medical equipment covered in mud and damaged by flooding outside a hospital in Al Bayyada, Libya. September 2023.

Libyan scuba divers collect the body of a victim of the floods in Derna that washed into a rocky area near Kabta Beach, about 20 km east of Derna. Alfataeh, Libya, September 22, 2023.

A thick layer of mud covers the floor of a room inside a home destroyed by the floods in Derna. September 22, 2023.

A survivor holds a clock that stopped at the time the flood arrived in Derna. Libya, September 21, 2023.

A mass grave for unidentified victims of the floods in Derna in the town of Martuba, east of Derna. September 23, 2023.

Cleaning crews remove a heavy layer of dry mud from the streets of Gandoula, a town located 140 km west of Derna that was affected by the devasting floods that killed thousands of people across eas (...)

Displaced people from Derna receiving aid at a warehouse in Al Bayda. Libya, September 25, 2023.

An African migrant living in eastern Libya, who lost most of their possessions during the floods that devastated Derna and towns in the region, including Shahat. Libya, September 20, 2023.

The collapsed dam in Derna. Wadi Derna, Libya, September 26, 2023.

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Over the past month, Moises Saman has been documenting the catastrophic effects of Storm Daniel in Libya. On September 11, 2023, torrential rains caused critical flooding in the towns of Shahhat, Al-Bayda, and Marj. In Derna, the collapse of two dams caused floodwater to tear through the city of 100,000 people, washing away buildings, cars, and residents, leaving the town in a state of devastation.

On assignment for the Wall Street Journal and UNFPA, Saman documented the scenes after the storm, as well as the rescue crews and support teams in the devastating aftermath, and the homelessness crisis that hit the population as tens of thousands were displaced.

Fifteen percent of Derna’s population is said to have died or is missing. “In some cases, whole neighborhoods were carried away to the middle of the sea, along with the people inside them,” says Ahmad Algeriany, Program Officer, UNFPA Libya.⁠

The flooding left behind a “trail of destruction of epic proportions,” Saman writes. “By the time I arrived on the scene on September 19, the hope for finding survivors had dissipated, and most international rescue crews and journalists were on their way out of the country. For the next week, I witnessed how the search for bodies continued and moved out to the sea rather than the rubble. The gruesome work of recovering these bodies was done mostly by Libyan divers, braving choppy waters to reach inaccessible areas of the coast where bodies were being found inside the crevices of rocks. At the same time, thousands of displaced families sought refuge in nearby cities, like Al Bayda, staying in schools and other temporary shelters.”

View a series of images in the slideshow above.

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