According to the United Nations, local authorities concerned about disease spreading have hurriedly buried 1,000 people in mass graves. The floodwaters have wreaked havoc in Derna and surrounding areas, leaving behind bodies on beaches, streets and beneath the rubble. I expected to die with my three children, whom I placed next to me in bed,” says Haddad. I even posted on my Facebook page my end and bid farewell to my family before going to bed. Noura Mahmoud al-Haddad, an independent journalist in the city of al-Shahat, 100km from Derna, watched from her windows as the rain came down for almost 24 hours, causing the power to go out and water to fill the streets as high as the second storey of the city’s buildings.Īlgerian Civil Defense diving teams conduct search and rescue operations in a building submerged by floodwaters in Derna on Friday. I have never experienced something as harrowing as this.” There were children crying over the graves of their families and trying to climb into the graves. The horror was tangible in their eyes, their features. “When I began working on a report and interacted with survivors, their faces screamed of fear. “The most haunting part of the whole experience was the scar the storm has left on the living,” says Eljabo. The Observer spoke to six journalists who have between them narrowly escaped death, experienced the loss of friends and loved ones and reported from places now almost wiped off the map. Eljabo is one of many local reporters who have in the last week witnessed scenes they now find it hard to describe and are struggling to process.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |