How to Deal with Mountains of Rubble in Gaza

0:00Greenland has said it is not for sale. Denmark has said it can't even legally sell Greenland. And whether Trump can or will or should try to control or purchase a territory that does not want to be sold is one question. But on Planet Money, we are more interested in how we even got to this moment and how we might gracefully get out of it. Listen to Planet Money on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Today on State of the World, how to deal with mountains of rubble in Gaza. You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories, up close where they're happening.

0:40It's Monday, October 20th. I'm Greg Dixon. The shaky ceasefire between Israel and Hamas seems to be holding. And as Gaza begins to slowly emerge from the war, the challenges facing the territory are coming into focus. Roughly 90 % of buildings are damaged or destroyed. with unexploded bombs buried in the debris. And Pierre's Anas Baba in Gaza City tells us that bulldozers are clearing some of the main roads, but there's still a huge amount of work to be done. Piles and piles and mountains of debris and rubble that covers the city streets. We're talking about hospitals. We're talking here about houses.

1:20We're talking about universities. So before Gaza can rebuild, those piles and mountains of rubble need to be cleared. On today's episode, we're going to hear from the United Nations program that will help make that happen. Yaku Selyer is special representative of the administrator for UN's program of assistance to the Palestinian people. He spoke to NPR's Leila Fadl. So if you could just describe what you're seeing right now, the scale of the damage. Yes, I'm currently in Darabala, which is the center part of Gaza. I was in Gaza City to visit some of our projects and initiatives. And I can tell you, as you drive through Gaza, there's really not a single place where you can find a building or an apartment that is still standing or that haven't been damaged by the wall.

2:08You see people digging through rubble, looking for any types of possession that they can start rebuilding their lives with. The sad part for me is looking at children as young as five years old that are looking for water, standing in lines for water and looking for food. And they should be in school, and they haven't been in school the last two years. So where do you even start with this? I mean, I know that you said in a briefing that the UN's development program has already cleared 3 ,100 truckloads of rubble. What happens with that rubble, and where to begin? Yeah, so removing the rubble will be the first challenge.

2:44Just to give you an idea of how much we're talking about, if you build a 12-meter wall around Central Park, And you fill that, that's the amount of rubble that needs to be cleared. As was mentioned previously also, there are also unexploded ordinances or bombs within that rubble, so that has to be cleared first. But what we are doing is taking the rubble, we're sorting it, and then we're taking it to plants where we crush it into finer materials so that it can be recycled and reused again. For instance, we pave roads with it. We create the basis for tents, and we also look forward to using that in reconstruction material in the future.

3:25And is that because of Israel's past bans on construction materials like cement from entering Gaza? That is one of the challenges we face, especially for the rebuilding efforts. But it is also partly that we need big equipment that is not being allowed in. Currently, we're using contractors, but the majority of their big construction equipment have either been damaged or is very old. They haven't been able to bring in also parts to service these equipment. So having both the infrastructure, the resources, i.e. funding, but also the equipment will be very important to start this initial. What about other things like basic utilities, electricity, water, waste management?

4:11Also, are there bodies under the rubble? Are you finding bodies? All of the issues you mentioned are incredibly important for the reconstruction to begin. I can tell you I was yesterday in Faraz Market, which is a central market in Gaza City. It was about between 8 and 10 meters high. It was filling the whole market and all solid waste have been moved there. You can imagine the health risk and the environmental risk for something like that. There's also problems with water and sewerage. People are not getting water. The systems are not in place to deliver water. So the trucking has to be done.

4:47We, for instance, deliver about 300 ,000 litres of water that are also servicing various people through their needs. And unfortunately, the last issue you mentioned is also a reality. There are still bodies in the debris. We discovered three bodies when we were clearing a mosque about two months ago. Then you have to follow procedures. You have to identify the bodies, you know, also let the family members know. And then there's a process of also religious burial that you have to respect. That was Yaku Salir with the UN's Program of Assistance to the Palestinian people. He joined us from Gaza. Thank you so much for your time.

5:26Thank you.

5:35That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening.

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