Marsh Arabs Village

The Marsh Arabs (Maadan) has developed a unique culture centred around the marshes' natural resources. Most Marsh Arabs lives in arched reed houses. The typical dwelling is usually a little more than 2 meters wide, about 6 meters long, and a little less than three meters high, and was either constructed at the waterside or on an artificial island of reeds called a kibasha; a more permanent island of layered reeds and mud was called a dibin. Houses had entrances at both ends and a screen in the middle; one end was used as a dwelling and the other end was used to shelter animals in bad weather. The marsh environment meant that certain diseases, such as bilharzia and malaria, were endemic; Maadani agriculture and homes were also vulnerable to periodic droughts and flooding. After the people of the marshes rose against Saddam Hussein, he began drying the marshes by channeling water away from them and directly into the Shatt el Arab. Most of the inhabitants were killed or fled to Iran, so that only 40,000 of the original 250,000 to 500,000 people remained. In the first four years, Saddam drained 60 percent of the marsh; today only 7 percent remains. According to a report made by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 2001, the marshlands that once covered between 5,800 and 7,700 square miles now comprised just 386 square miles. UNEP ranked the destruction of the marsh with the desiccation of the Aral Sea and the deforestation of the Amazon as one of the worst environmental disasters in history. But the Marsh Arabs continues to live their lives.