'Liberated' Iraq.
"The collapse of sanitary facilities in #Basra's schools has put more than 277,000 children in danger. Overcrowded classrooms make the situation even worse with immediate risk of diarrhoea and Cholera outbreaks," says @NRC_Norway's @Tom_Peyre_Costa
Children in schools have to worry. So many have to worry. Every day, the water crisis turns out to be much more than just Iraq's neighbors damning the rivers and preventing Iraq from access to them. For example, in the last days, the issue of the fish -- specifically, the issue of them dying -- has been noticed.
- #EnvironmentalDisaster Initial findings point to bacterial or fungal infections as the cause for massive fish deaths in Babylon province #Iraq
- Grotesque fish find fuels fears over Iraq water quality (VIDEO) — RT World News https://www.rt.com/news/443110-iraq-fish-death-mystery/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome …
- Broken government agencies, corruption, pesticide use upriver, and massive pollution help contaminate the Tigris (and other) River(s) in Iraq, leading to events such as the large fish kill mentioned in the first post.
- Thousands of fish die in #Babylon province. WHO is deeply concerned. This could pose as a public health risk to communities. The agency is working with @MOHealth_Iraq, local health authorities, traditional and religious leaders to ensure all potential health risks are minimized.
- A joint mission with @MOHealth_Iraq, local health authorities,& politicians traveled to assess the situation and mobilize immediate support required. Public health experts are deployed to collect water and fish samples for further tests &institute other public health measures.
For those trying to keep track . . .
The low levels of water (due to Iraq's neighbors cutting off the rivers) led to the government requiring most farmers to forgo crops this summer and it also led to some of the most grotesque photos of livestock as they too suffered from the lack of water. Now the fish. What exactly are the people of Iraq supposed to be eating?
And they can't drink the water in Basra -- unless they want to risk being hospitalized -- as has happened to over 100,000 already. Ali Jabar (AP) notes, "Health officials said some 100,000 people were taken to hospital for stomach illnesses in the southern Basra province, where sludge and yellow water was recorded flowing out of the taps. Demonstrators rioted, demanding better services."
How big is the problem?
- PM @AdilAbdAlMahdi chairs meeting of the Ministerial Council for National Security in Baghdad. The Council discussed food security including protecting Iraq’s strategic fish reserves, measures to reduce water pollution, border security and regional developments
Yes, that serious. The do-nothing government of the new prime minister has to hold a cabinet meeting to discuss the situation.
Despite it being that serious, the Iraqi government is denying speculation that there may be some form of poison in the water. RUDAW reports:
Iraq’s Ministry of Agriculture has ordered experts to take preventative measures to protect the fishing industry while refuting rumours that toxins had caused the mass fish die off.
“No poisonous material was found and this refutes any conspiracy theories as no case of fish death has been reported in the last 48 hours,” the ministry stated Saturday evening.
Thousands of fish died in Babylon province over the weekend. Fish farmers woke up to dead fish covering the surface of the Euphrates River and washing up on the banks.
The Ministry of Agriculture speaks very loudly for a ministry whose head did not attend the meeting that al-Mehdi called. To be clear, many ministries have no heads currently -- about eight of them. But that is not the case for Agriculture. The Minister of Agriculture is Falah Hassan al-Zidan, confirmed by Parliament. But while many managed to attend the Council's meeting earlier today, al-Zidan did not attend and sent an undersecretary instead. That's rather alarming. Agriculture is front and center on this issue but the head of the ministry does not attend the Council meeting?
On Sunday, surveying the partial Cabinet al-Mehdi has put together, Salah Nasrawi (AHRAM ONLINE) wondered, "Has Iraq missed its chance?" If we're to judge solely by the response (or non-response) of the Minister of Agriculture, then, yes, it has.
Sami Moubayed (GULF NEWS) offers:
Iraqi parliamentarians will vote Tuesday on the eight vacant posts in the cabinet of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mehdi. If he fails to come up with an acceptable assortment, Abdul Mehdi runs a high risk of early failure. He would have to either step down or continue with a lopsided and incomplete government, one in which he has to personally assume all vacant portfolios himself.
A French-trained economist and former communist, Abdul Mehdi managed to secure approval for 14 out of 22 ministers on October 25, becoming the 49th prime minister of Iraq — until further notice. He got filled politically nonsensitive posts, like agriculture, youth affairs, and labour, and left vacant “sovereignty portfolios”, like interior, defence, and education.
We're in for more rain
I could sure use some sunshine on my apple trees
It seems such a shame
We start out so kind and end so heartlessly
I couldn't take them all on then
With a headful of questions and hypes
So when the hopes got so slim
I just resigned
But I'd still like to see you sometime
I'd sure like to see you
-- "See You Sometime," written by Joni Mitchell, first appears on her FOR THE ROSES.
Last week, the Iraqi Red Crescent Society noted:
A number of villages in Rawandoz district in Erbil governorate were swept by the water torrents and it has led to the drowning of 102 houses in Warti area in Rawandoz district that witnessed heavy rain during the last two days and created torrents which caused damages to the houses of the citizens and the public facilities .
“ more than 398 families in Rawandoz district have been forced to leave their houses because of the torrents that swept some of the villages and caused to a material damages without civilian casualties, said Mr. Hawri Ehsan the Head of Irbil branch of the Iraqi Red Crescent Society.
Lastly on Iraq, we'll note this:
Kat's "Kat's Korner: Barbra Streisand, the Ethel Merman of the 21st century" went up Sunday.
