Ten months after the Jeddah flood disaster, the small alleys of Quwaizah District are still engulfed in piles of garbage that residents say the Jeddah Mayoralty has been slow to collect. People there fear a new wave of diseases and serious public health risks as bacteria-laden garbage piles up during Ramadan. “Look around at these overflowing trash bins on the streets for well over a week now, the flies are already circling – and laying eggs, hundreds at a time,” said Awad Al-Zahrani, who lives in the area. Innocent children playing on the streets are vulnerable to being victims of official negligence, he added. Across the Quwaizah District, trash bins are filled with watermelon rinds, rotten soup and chicken bones left over from Ramadan breakfast. No garbage truck has come to collect the garbage since Ramadan started, Al-Zahrani said. “The scene of flies has become familiar and with it our concerns rise,” he said. Flies are the biggest concern now because they are the first pests to arrive at the yummy buffet of rotting refuse and spread diseases such as salmonella by transporting bacteria from garbage to kitchen countertops or the dinner table. Residents also worry that the rat population could soon increase and present a bigger health problem in the poor area east of Jeddah that was devastated by the Black Wednesday flood in November 2009. “We have complained to the Jeddah Mayoralty and the Health Department, but no action has been taken,” said Salem Al-Malki, who lives in the area. “This poor district is surely going into oblivion.” Nothing much has changed since the floods, “not even a decent cleaning job of the district” and residents are losing hope for better living conditions, he said. A source at the Jeddah Mayoralty said officials use satellite-based systems to closely monitor cleaning companies and their garbage trucks, a justification that did not convince one resident. “I don't care how they monitor the job,” said Ahmad Al-Zahrani. “I just care that the job is done and it is never done, as one can see with his own eyes.” The Mayoralty is serious about keeping Jeddah clean and cleaning companies will be punished if they are not doing their jobs, the source said.
