Dust from the silt left behind by the recent Jeddah floods and heavy rains, and an accumulation of garbage and other waste, is causing serious health problems in the Al-Jamea District, according to residents. Residents have complained that there has been an increase in asthma attacks, including lung, skin and eye allergies. They have called on the municipality to take action to clean up the area. Abdullah Al-Ahmadi, one of the residents of the district, said the air in the district is polluted with dust. This had increased the suffering of asthma patients and those afflicted with various allergies. Old people and children are also struggling to breathe in the polluted air. The dust has spread to all the streets and houses, he said. Al-Ahmadi said most of the tarred streets are like dirt roads because of the accumulation of silt over the past weeks following the rainfall in Jeddah. Khaled Dhaif, another resident, said media reports that the municipality is cleaning up the area, are not true. He said the garbage collectors clean the dumpsters but do nothing about the dust and other waste lying around. Naif Al-Bluwi, also a resident of the district, said the accumulation of solid waste next to the garbage dumpsters is an ideal breeding ground for insects and rodents. This has added further problems to an area already suffering from the pollution from industrial estates and motor vehicle workshops among the houses on the western side. The residents called on the Al-Jamea Municipality to send cleaning teams to remove the silt from the streets, to spray insecticides daily and to remove the waste and garbage, particularly the solid waste. In response to the complaints, the head of the Al-Jamea Municipality referred the matter to Ahmed Al-Ghamdi, Director of the Information Center at the mayoralty. Al-Ghamdi could not be reached by telephone.
