Syria: Drought Adds to Woes, U.N. Says
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Version 0 of 1. The supply of safe water in Syria is now one-third of the level it was before March 2011 when the civil war began, Unicef said Friday in a report that warns of new levels of suffering because of a worsening regional drought. The report said the 9.6 million Syrians affected by the conflict, half of them children, are at increased risk of disease because the water scarcity has compounded problems caused by damage to water and sewage systems. Parts of Syria have received the lowest levels of rainfall in more than half a century, the report said, and most parts of the country have only received half the average rainfall of a normal year. The drought also threatens to put new pressures on Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq, where Syrian refugees are already straining the water supply. |