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By Mustafa Khalifa.
Ghat, 14 June 2016:
The border town of Ghat in the south west of the country is suffering the same problems as elsewhere in Libya – power cuts, water cuts, lack of cash in the banks – except with temperatures in the upper 40s and water now having to be collected by hand, it makes things far worse.
On the first day of Ramadan, technical problems at Al-Awenat some 120 kilometres north east of Ghat, resulted in blackouts for more than 12 hours a day. Four days later, a team of engineers from Sebha managed to repair the overhead power line between the Ubari and Ghat reducing power cuts to just over three hours a day but a surge in consumption because of the heatwave then resulted in further cuts.
With pumps not working, there has been no water for many, forcing them to have to go and fetch it from places where it is available.
“The atmosphere in Ghat this Ramadan is the worst in years,” local resident Mohamed Hassan told the Libya Herald. Life is extremely difficult, he said, with high prices in shops no cash available at banks for over a month, temperatures of over 46 degrees (centigrade), and having to collect drinking water from elsewhere.
“That is our situation here in Ghat,” he said stoically.
According to Ghat Crisis Committee, the power problem is part of the general Libyan power shortage, but power surges have damaged a number of water pumps. The municipal council has organised a number of new pumps but they too have been damaged.
