Middle East DVEP - Armed Forces Pest Management Board

G. Kuwait.a. Geography. Including several offshore islands, Kuwait’s land area is estimated tobe 17,820 sq km, slightly smaller than New Jersey. The terrain is mostly flat desert,except for a few oases and the 120 m high Ahmadi Ridge that runs north to south,separating the central part of the country from a narrow coastal plain. Surface disruptionby military operations during the 1991 Persian Gulf War and ensuing desert winds havealtered Kuwait’s topography by increasing sand dune size and movement. FaylakahIsland, 19 km off shore, is the only inhabited Kuwaiti island.b. Climate. Kuwait has a subtropical desert climate with two distinct seasons.Summer (May to October) produces a peak high temperature of 48 o C and a low of 14 o C,with a mean daily high temperature of 40 o C and a mean daily low of 33 o C. Diurnaltemperatures can vary as much as 10 o C. Frequent sandstorms, caused by the arid shamalwinds, blow across the Persian Gulf. Winter (November to April) produces a peak hightemperature of 39 o C and a low of 1 o C, with a mean daily high temperature of 28 o C and amean daily low of 9 o C. Winter brings all of Kuwait’s meager 25 to 175 mm annualprecipitation, which sometimes is heavy enough to produce minor local flooding.________________________________________________________________________Kuwait City (elevation 5 m)Mean Daily Temperatures ( o C)MONTH J F M A M J J A S O N DMaximum 16 18 22 28 34 37 39 40 36 33 25 18Minimum 9 11 15 20 25 26 30 30 27 23 17 12Monthly PrecipitationMean (mm) 23 23 28 5 0 0 0 0 0 3 15 28______________________________________________________________________________________c. Population and Culture. Despite strong post-war immigration controls and thedeportation of many expatriates, foreign nationals constitute approximately 55% ofKuwait’s population. The overall population density of 99 persons per sq km ismisleading, because large areas of desert are uninhabited and many urban areas aredensely populated. The population is 45% Kuwaiti, 35% other Arabs, 9% South Asian,4% Iranian, and 7% others. Total population 1.9 million; 96% urbanized; literacy rate79%.d. Water, Living and Sanitary Conditions. Compared to most other MiddleEastern countries, Kuwait’s living and sanitary conditions are good but still below Westernstandards, especially in food sanitation. Most middle- and upper-income residents havewater and sanitation services connected directly to individual houses. Refuse in theseareas is collected regularly. For rural populations and poorer city inhabitants, housing,water supplies, food sanitation, and waste disposal systems remain well below Westernstandards. Leaking water distribution systems are subject to infiltration with fecal orindustrial contamination. The attraction and breeding of disease vectors and pests is not aswidespread or significant in Kuwait as in most other countries in the region, but there are51