Basra Facing
Disaster After Supplies Cut
Edinburgh Evening Herald
March 24, 2003
Water and electricity have been cut off in the southern Iraqi city of
Basra for more than two days, threatening a humanitarian disaster, it
was claimed today.
The International Committee
of the Red Cross has warned that neither supply has been available since
Friday, potentially crippling hospitals and services in the area.
Electricity cables powering
the major Wafa al-Quaid water station - which supplies two million people
and is the biggest source in the region - have been destroyed.
The ICRC said the station
was under the control of the US-led forces and negotiations were on-going
to try to set up emergency generators until the cables were repaired.
Florian Westphal of the ICRC
said: "Sixty per cent of the local population are still without
access to a regular water supply - this could develop into a humanitarian
crisis.
"We are really, really
going to try and gain access to the supply and do anything we can to
repair it."
Mr Westphal confirmed that
the situation in Basra was currently the organizations main priority,
although the humanitarian situation in Baghdad was being closely monitored.
Earlier, Roland Huguenin
Benjamin, from the ICRC in Baghdad, said the lack of water in Basra
was causing serious concern to medical administrators.
"There is no water running,"
he said. "People will very soon be without the possibility of operating
in hospitals or anything else for that matter.
"It is a humanitarian
emergency that they should be given access to clear water. We definitely
need to be able to send our engineers in there as soon as possible."