Talafar families start to receive compensation for damaged property

Thousands of families from the town of Talafar, some 80 km east of the northern city of Mosul, have begun to receive monetary damages for losses incurred during US-led military operations in September. City officials last week began to distribute part of a $3-million compensation package funded by the Iraqi Transitional Government aimed at reimbursing residents of the city whose houses and businesses were destroyed during fighting between insurgents and Coalition forces. “This compensation will show the city’s families that the government is on their side,” Khalif Muhammad, a senior official in the governorate of Talafar, said on Friday. More than 50,000 families out of Talafar’s population of 400,000 left the city during the military operations, many of whom returned to find their homes and businesses devastated. In an effort to compensate their losses, each family received an initial amount of $100, with monthly stipends planned for residents and extra reparations for those whose properties were totally destroyed. Reimbursements were also extended to a number of displaced families living on the outskirts of the city who have not yet returned to the city because their homes remain uninhabitable. Some residents expressed satisfaction with the payments. Anuar Kubaissy, 34, a father of two, said: “I was worried about how I was going to feed my family because I had lost everything. Even the shop where I worked was totally destroyed.” Others, however, complained that the amount was insufficient, especially for those with large families. “They offered the same amount of money to families of two as they did to those with seven members,” said Zeid Ahmed, 45, a father of six. Reconstruction projects have also begun in the city, aimed at repairing the destruction. “Three schools have been repaired, two clinics improved, a new power installation built and many streets in the most damaged areas of the city repaved,” Muhammad said. More than 400 houses and shops were reported to be seriously damaged during hostilities, not counting schools, clinics and mosques. The Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS) had initially planned to support Talafar residents, but these funds were reallocated to cover the more urgent needs of residents of al-Qaim, Karabila and Romanna in the west, where thousands have been recently displaced by US-led Operation Steel Curtain. “The constant fighting in different areas of Iraq has delayed our assistance to many areas, but an IRCS office has been set up in Talafar, and as soon as the situation in al-Qaim improves, we plan to send more relief to the area,” IRCS spokeswoman Ferdous al-Abadi said on Saturday.