While most folk worry about car bombers and suicide bombers, the reality is there have been only three such bombs in Kurdistan in the last 10 years.Now these are things that I really worry about.
1. Exploding gas cylinders. Everyone here uses cylinder gas and given the usual state of affairs here, I very much doubt if any of these are regularly (if at all) checked for safety. At night when the stalls are set up along the footpaths of Salim Street there are portable gas cylinders everywhere and if one exploded it would cause havoc in the dense crowds.
2. Dodgy electrics. Much like the cylinders, there is little or no control on the standard of electrical work and wires just hang and tangle everywhere. See next item.
3. Fire escapes. Two years ago a hotel caught fire here and over 40 people died as there were no proper fire escapes. The fire was caused by an electrical fault. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuzb9X4lUD8
4. Earthquakes. With very little in the way of building controls, many building here have been constructed cheaply and badly. Crumbling concrete due to the lack of cement is a common sight and who knows what else lies hidden. This is an earthquake zone and a big shake would bring a good part of this city down.
5.Being run over. Kurds are not aggressive drivers and there is little of the pushiness and horn tooting of Lebanon or the crazy fast driving of the UAE. They are, though careless, distracted, and like many things Kurdish, drivers have little regard for rules. Another disturbing factor is that there are no 'drink driving' laws and drunk drivers are too common especially on Thursday and Friday nights.
Throw into this mix a lack of pedestrian crossings and then getting across busy Salim Street becomes a game of Russian roulette. The vast majority of drivers are polite and slow down to let you cross and the locals just step confidently into the stream of rushing traffic.But it just takes one.....
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