Shipments of international aid arrived in Libya on Saturday, offering a lifeline to thousands despite dwindling hopes of finding more survivors days after deadly flash floods.
Sunday's floods submerged the port city of Derna, washing thousands of people and homes out to sea after two upstream dams burst under the pressure of torrential rains triggered by a hurricane-strength storm.
Conflicting death tolls have been reported.
The World Health Organization said "the bodies of 3,958 people have been recovered and identified", with 9,000 more still missing, as it announced 29 tonnes of health supplies had arrived in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.
Aid-laden planes
"This is a disaster of epic proportions," said Ahmed Zouiten, the WHO's representative in Libya. "We are saddened by the unspeakable loss of thousands of souls."
An AFP correspondent also saw two aid-laden planes, one from the United Arab Emirates and another from Iran, land in Benghazi, more than 300 kilometres (186 miles) west of Derna .
A steady stream of vehicles was seen trickling into Derna on a makeshift road as diggers toiled to shift rubble near an apartment block with a missing facade.
In Al-Bayda, 100 kilometres west of Derna, locals worked to clear roads and homes of the mounds of mud left behind by the deluge.
Poor infrastructure
The floods were caused by hurricane-strength Storm Daniel, compounded by the poor infrastructure in Libya, which was plunged into turmoil after a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.
Aid organisations like Islamic Relief and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) have meanwhile warned the upcoming period could see the spread of disease as well as grave difficulties in delivering aid to those in need.
Islamic Relief warned of a "second humanitarian crisis" after the flood, pointing to the "growing risk of water-borne diseases and shortages of food, shelter and medicine".
The spokesman for the eastern-based Libyan National Army, Ahmed al-Mesmari, on Friday night said the flood had affected "over 1.2 million people".
Thousands in need
The United Nations has launched an appeal for more than $71 million to assist hundreds of thousands in need.
The International Organization for Migration meanwhile said "over 38,640" people had been left homeless in eastern Libya, 30,000 of them in Derna alone.
Climate experts have linked the disaster to the impacts of a heating planet, combined with Libya's decaying infrastructure.
