Iraqis' tips to USA on dealing with power outages

[Ivo Skoric]

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Iraqis Offer Tips Over U.S. Blackout

APO  15/08/2003 09:32


Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The
information contained in this news report may not be published,
broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written 
authority
of the Associated Press.
   By NIKO PRICE
 Associated Press Writer

   BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Iraqis who have suffered for months with
   little
electricity gloated Friday over a blackout in the northeastern United
States and southern Canada and offered some tips to help Americans
beat the heat.
   From frequent showers to rooftop slumber parties, Iraqis have
   developed
advanced techniques to adapt to life without electricity.
   Daily highs have soared above 120 degrees recently as Iraq's U.S.
administrators have been unable to get power back to prewar levels.
Some said it was poetic justice that some Americans should suffer the
same fate, if only briefly.
   "Let them taste what we have tasted," said Ali Abdul Hussein,
   selling
"Keep Cold" brand ice chests on a sidewalk. "Let them sit outside
drinking tea and smoking cigarettes waiting for the power to come
back, just like the Iraqis."

   Here are some tips from the streets of Baghdad:
   -- SLEEP ON THE ROOF. Without power -- and hence without air
conditioning -- Iraqis have taken to climbing up stairs in the hot
nights. Some install metal bed frames on rooftops, while others 
simply
stretch out on thin mattresses. "It's cooler there," said Hadia 
Zeydan
Khalaf, 38.
   -- SIT IN THE SHADE. Many Iraqis head outside when the power's 
off.
   "We
sit in the shade," said George Ruweid, 27, playing cards with friends
on the sidewalk. Of the U.S. blackout, he said: "I hope it lasts for
20 years. Let them feel our suffering."
   -- HEAD FOR THE WATER. "We go to the river, just like in the old
   days,"
said Saleh Moayet, 53.
   -- SHOWER FREQUENTLY. "I take showers all day," said Raed Ali, 33.
   -- BUY BLOCKS OF ICE. Mohammed Abdul Zahara, 24, sells about 20 a
   day
from a roadside table.
   -- GET A GENERATOR. Abbas Abdul al-Amir, 53, has one of a long row
   of
shops selling generators in Baghdad's Karadah shopping street. When
the power goes out, sales go up, he said.
   -- CALL IN THE IRAQIS. Some suggested the Americans ask the Iraqis
   how
to get the power going again. "Let them take experts from Iraq," said
Alaa Hussein, 32, waiting in a long line for gas because there was no
electricity for the pumps. "Our experts have a lot of experience in
these matters."
   ------
   EDITOR'S NOTE -- Niko Price is correspondent-at-large for The
   Associated
Press.



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