World Bank technicians inspect water dams in Kurdistan following earthquake

A joint World Bank and Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources team visited the Sulaimani province to assess the damages inflicted to the Darbandikhan and Dukan dams following the devastating Nov. 12 earthquake.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – A joint World Bank and Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources team visited the Sulaimani province to assess the damages inflicted to the Darbandikhan and Dukan dams following the devastating Nov. 12 earthquake.

A 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck the Kurdistan Region–Iran border, killing and injuring thousands of people on both sides of the border and inflicting heavy damages to buildings in the area.

Darbandikhan and Dukan are two important dams in Kurdistan, built at the beginning of the 1960s to control floods, and for the use of irrigation, clean water supply, and power generation.

The mobilization of a technical support team to carry out a fact-finding mission to assess the damages inflicted to the dams was at the request of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

“We highly value the partnership between the Government of Iraq and the World Bank office in Baghdad and we appreciate the Bank’s prompt response and cooperation in answering the Ministry’s request for assistance in dealing with this emergency,” Hassan al-Janabi, the Minister of Water Resources said.

In its own statement, the World Bank stated that they aim to prepare a detailed diagnostic of the impact caused by the recent quake and to review emergency preparedness plan, preparing an action plan for the management of the dams.

“The World Bank is working hand in hand with the Government of Iraq teams at the dam locations in carrying out a deep dive assessment of the damage caused by the earthquake and putting together a rehabilitation plan to address immediate and long-term concerns,” Yara Salem, the World Bank country manager, stated.

Both the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Federal Government of Iraq have provided some initial estimates of the costs to fix the most vulnerable parts of the dams.

Editing by Nadia Riva