Barzani Charitable Foundation sends relief assistance to Basra

The Barzani Charitable Foundation said on Monday that it would send the largest water convoy to the people of Basra Governorate in southern Iraq, which experiences a severe shortage of drinking water. ‘’The largest convoy of relief for our people in Basra was launched by the Barzani Charitable Foundation’’, the Foundation said in a statement. According to the statement, the convoy has more than 20 trucks loaded with 1,200,000 distilled water bottles.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Thursday called on Prime Minister Haier al-Abadi and the Ministers of Health, Environment and water resources to move to Basra to assess the drinking water contamination disaster in the Governorate. The Head of Basra Department of Health Inspections had told local press earlier that the region had been experiencing a drastic case of water contamination and the majority of residents were suffering from severe stomach pain and diarrhoea. The Basra Council has confirmed that more than 6,000 people have been poisoned due to contamination of drinking water, according to statistics recorded by the Governorate hospitals. Activists launched the "Save Basra" campaign on social media against the backdrop of pollution injuries, shortages of medicines and high water salinity.