Middle East DVEP - Armed Forces Pest Management Board

known as the Liwa, form an arc along the southern edge of the country’s undefined borderwith Saudi Arabia. (2) Shallow seas, coral reefs, sandbars and islets characterize theUAE’s Persian Gulf coast. (3) Running along the Musandam Peninsula in the east, the al-Hajar Mountains rise to peak elevations of 2,500 m. (4) On the eastern seaboard, a fertilecoastal strip known as the Batinah Coast runs between the mountains and the Gulf ofOman.b. Climate. The UAE’s arid climate has two distinct seasons. Winter (December toMarch) has a mean minimum daily temperature of 15 o C with high and low temperatures of41 o C and 5 o C. The scarce annual precipitation, usually averaging less than 130 mm, fallsduring winter in short, torrential downpours. Summer (June to September) brings duststorms and mean daily high temperatures of 39 o C, with an extreme high of 47 o C. Coastalhumidity exceeds 85% most of the summer because of the sharqi, a humid southeasternwind.________________________________________________________________________Abu Dhabi (elevation 30 m.)Mean Daily Temperatures ( o C)MONTH J F M A M J J A S O N DMaximum 23 24 27 31 36 37 40 39 37 34 29 25Minimum 15 16 19 22 26 28 29 31 28 24 20 17Monthly PrecipitationMean (mm) 23 23 10 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 36________________________________________________________________________c. Population and Culture. Foreign immigrants make up the majority of thepopulation and supply the work force for UAE’s rapidly growing economy. Theincreasing urban population is almost entirely concentrated in the coastal cities of northernUAE and in the Liwa and Buraymi oases. The emirates of Abu Dhabi and Dubai alonecontain almost 70% of the country’s total population. The population is 50% South Asian,23% other Arabs, 19% Emirian, and 8% others. Total population 2.3 million; 82%urbanized; literacy rate 79%.d. Water, Living and Sanitary Conditions. Living and sanitary conditions in theUAE are generally below Western standards. In urban areas, direct hookups to municipalsewage systems are available only to the wealthy. Sharjah’s sewage system serves only30% of its population. Low-income inhabitants, mostly foreign laborers or previouslynomadic Bedouins, inhabit overcrowded and unsanitary slums on the periphery of cities.These areas lack municipal water supplies and sanitation services. Rural villagers, whoengage in subsistence agriculture, live in houses constructed of mud-brick or stone withflat roofs, often with livestock and other domestic animals nearby. These conditions canattract and support large populations of pests and disease vectors. Such situations couldrapidly and significantly affect military units.O. Yemen.60