Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Piffer Thread on Political Rantings and Ravings -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Techplayer who wrote (10186)	3/25/2003 2:01:28 PM
From: Techplayer	Respond to of 14610

USWAR/ICRC says it races to restore water in Basra, Iraq Vienna, March 25, IRNA -- The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Tuesday that its staff had reached the main pumping station at the southern Iraqi city of Basra and were racing to restore water supplies for its 1.2 million inhabitants. Interruptions to electricity supplies to the pumping station just north of the city occurred last Friday, cutting off water supplies regarded as critical for the health and survival of people there. The aid agency had been trying to secure access to the station at Waif Al Qaid, north of the city for several days, amid fierce fighting between Iraqi forces and US and British troops around the strategic stronghold. Water shortages in Basra had also prompted the ICRC to warn on Monday that civilians in Basra were facing a "humanitarian crisis". On Tuesday, the Geneva-based aid agencies said they were concerned about reports that people in Basra had started to fetch water directly from rivers. "They're forced to use water that might be contaminated with sewage, which clearly poses a risk to health if it is consumed or used for washing and for hygiene," WHO spokesman Iain Simpson told journalists. "Diahorreal disease is listed as one of the three major killers of children in Iraq, which account between them for something like 70 percent of deaths of under five-year-olds," he added. Death rates increased sharply during past emergencies in the country, with diahorreal diseases accounting for 80 percent of deaths amongst children under two. One potential result of water problems could be cholera, which has occurred in Basra before, Simpson warned. Many water and sanitation plants were damaged during the 1991 Gulf war and have been in a poor state of repair since then, according to aid agencies. Experience from the Gulf war also forced ICRC -- which is one of the only international aid agencies trying to operate inside Iraq during the war -- to shore up water supplies, the agency said. In Brussels, Belgium's defence ministry said on Tuesday it would shift water purification equipment waiting in Jordan to Kuwait, ready for use in southern Iraq, at the request of the World Food Programme (WFP). SS/AR End