Author: Karl Schembri

Karl Schembri looks at the dangers of using portable generators during the electricity crisis in Gaza.

A shop selling portable generators in Gaza City. Photo: Karl Schembri/Oxfam

Oxfam has just launched an awareness-raising campaign for Palestinians in Gaza about the dangers of using portable generators. They have become widely used because of the electricity crisis caused by the Israeli blockade, and by a funding gap for the purchase of the industrial fuel needed to operate Gaza’s sole power plant. As a consequence, Palestinians are increasingly using generators to power their homes and work places to continue to live as normally as possible. However, the misuse of some generators resulted in 75 deaths last year according to the Gazan authorities, and 15 fatalities were reported in the first two months of this year alone – mainly from fires and carbon monoxide poisoning.

One portable generator produces as much carbon monoxide as several hundred cars. It is an odourless and invisible gas that kills within minutes. Approaching working generators with a flame or while smoking has already provoked deadly fires in many households. This has prompted Oxfam, together with local partners, to launch an information campaign across the Gaza Strip, distributing brochures and posters to shops, public places, hospitals and schools, and directly to many families.

The main slogan adopted for the campaign is: “Its place is outside. Generators in closed areas kill people. Don’t be the next victim.” The brochures outline step-by-step instructions on how to operate the generator safely before, during and after switching it on.

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Oxfam in action: Gaza Humanitarian crisis

Where we work: The occupied Palestinian territories and Israel

Podcast transcript

This is the sound of blackouts in Gaza. Shops – offices and houses – equipped with mobile generators as daily power cuts disrupt life in the Gaza Strip.

Smuggled from Egypt through the tunnels, generators have become a part of daily life here.

Since the European Union stopped funding Gaza’s energy last December, the fuel needed to operate Gaza’s power plant remains in short supply, forcing people to find their own energy sources.

But besides the headache that comes with the pervasive noise of generators, the rise in their use is also creating new victims.

Last year, a total of 75 Palestinians died from carbon monoxide gas poisoning or fires from generators, and 15 died and 27 people were injured in the first two months of this year.

Enaam Abu Nida, an Oxfam worker in Gaza, nearly died together with her 20-year-old daughter, from the lethal gas coming out of their generator at home.

“When the electricity turned off I had necessary work because I work as a volunteer. In that time I asked my husband to run the generator and to close the door because I was afraid it would be noisy for my neighbours, and worked for about two and a half hours without feeling any dangerous things for me or for my daughter. But suddenly my daughter said to me that she felt tired and had a headache. When I stood up to help her she fell down. I couldn’t stand up to help her because I felt very tired. I’m lucky because my son walked in at that time. I said to him “hurry to your sister”. He called his father to turn off the generator. The problem was from the generator. They took us to hospital and we spent from 3am till 2.30pm, and they gave us oxygen and treatment.”

To prevent more accidents, Oxfam has just launched an awareness campaign informing Palestinians on how to use their generators safely – with messages urging users to keep the machines outside and away from flames.

Oxfam’s food security assistant Basil Kanoa:

“Now Oxfam is working on a community awareness campaign regarding the best use of generators and how to decrease the accidents among the population. We observed some problems brought about by the misuse of generators that lead to death cases because of carbon monoxide poisoning. We will use our community awareness campaign, distributing our brochures and posters among targeted beneficiaries.”

Brochures and posters giving step-by-step instructions on how to use generators are being distributed in shops, clinics, schools and mosques. Oxfam is also distributing the material to thousands of families through its main partners in Gaza.

Enaam says she now wants to use her experience to warn others about generator safety.

“I have learnt and I want to teach many people: take care about generators, don’t put it inside, don’t let children near, or smoke or light fire next to the generators, and it must be outside the room.”

Karl Schembri in Gaza for Oxfam

Daily power cuts in Gaza, resulting from the Israeli blockade, mean that Palestinians must now use cheap generators in their attempt to carry on with daily life — but Karl Schembri discovers that power cuts are causing much deeper disruptions and putting lives at risk.

Wasfi Al Nider, 63, goes to Shifa Hospital three times a week for three-hour rounds of kidney dialysis treatment. Whenever the screen goes blank, he knows it’s trouble. Photo: Karl Schembri

Wasfi Al-Nider sits motionless on a couch looking at a small screen. Whenever it goes blank, it is the sign of yet another power cut hitting Gaza. But while most blackouts deprive many fellow Gazans of working on computers or watching TV, the screen the 63-year-old is looking at is connected to his blood and a kidney dialysis machine.

“Whenever there is a blackout, I’m in Allah’s hands,” Wasfi says. “The machine just stops, blood stops circulating, I just cry till the backup generator starts.”

Along with Wasfi, 200 other kidney dialysis patients frequenting Al-Shifa Hospital three times a week for four-hour rounds of treatment have watched their screens going blank. Over the last two months, blackouts have increased so much in Gaza they have rendered many of the hospital’s emergency battery backups useless.

“Many of our battery backups need repairing, and the Israeli blockade makes it very difficult to get most spare parts; we’ve been waiting for a year for some of the items,” says Dr Mohammed Shatat, the director of the kidney dialysis department. His colleagues at the cardiac and surgery departments work with the same trepidation of facing a blackout during critical surgery.

Increase in blackouts

Gaza has witnessed a steep increase in blackouts since the European Commission handed over responsibility for buying industrial fuel needed to operate Gaza’s only power plant to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah late last year. The entire coastal strip is now plunged in total darkness for up to 12 hours a day, disrupting the daily lives of Palestinians who are already living with hardships caused by the Israeli blockade.

It is critical that the Palestinian Authority urgently resolve the ongoing crisis transparently with international donors, mainly the European Union, to ensure that sufficient fuel supplies are delivered to Gaza’s power plant and Gazan families have access to electricity.

While most of the shops and offices in Gaza were already equipped with generators, many Palestinians are now buying portable generators made in China for their homes. These are imported through the tunnels running under the Gaza-Egypt border and fuelled by cheap diesel coming through the same underground lifelines. The owner of a store selling generators in Gaza City said sales increased by 70% in the last month.

Generators are too expensive to buy

With the help of a generator, Gazan families can generate enough energy so that nights have the semblance of normality: they can switch on the lights and a television set, and recharge a mobile. However the generator does not give enough power to switch on a refrigerator, heater or a washing machine.

For many Gazans living in poverty, generators are still too expensive to buy, at roughly 92 Euros each.

“These days, I’m lucky if I can make 100 shekels (20 Euros) in one month and I have 18 family members to support. How can I afford a generator, let alone the fuel and maintenance costs?” says 26-year-old Ibrahim who still supports his parents and other relatives as the only employed member of his immediate family.  “We have to make do with a kerosene lamp. With no gas available, we cook on firewood in the back yard and huddle in one room whenever it’s cold.”

The energy crisis is also causing a ripple effect of problems beyond the sick and the poor.

“I would need a very powerful generator to be able to use my machinery, costing me over 5,000 shekels (almost 1000 Euros)”, says blacksmith Abd al Rahman Al Shurafa who is unable to work when electricity is unavailable.  The idle time is costing Abd al Rahman up to 50% of his monthly income.

Keeping his fish fresh is Ihab Abu Hasira’s biggest headache at Munir fish restaurant.

“During blackouts we pack our freezers with ice although even that is not always available,” he says. “The worst is when we come in the morning and find there has been a blackout all night long, risking losing thousands of dollars worth of fish.”

For Mohammed Hizeb, a young electrician who repairs home appliances, this has been a boom time for business, as the number of fridges and washing machines for repairs in his shop can testify. “The sudden blackouts do a lot of damage to these appliances,” he says. “The last month has been the busiest.”

Unsafe generators cost lives

The widespread use of generators is also claiming the lives of Palestinians through fires and carbon monoxide poisoning. Last month, 3 children were reportedly killed and 5 others injured in a blaze which started after the explosion of a generator at their family’s home in southern Gaza. The same month, Oxfam employee Inam Abu Nada’ and her 20-year-old daughter nearly died when both were left unconscious near a generator leaking carbon monoxide gas.

A total of 15 people have died and 27 have been injured since January in generator-related accidents at home, according to Gaza Director of Emergency Services Muawiya Hassanayn. Last year, generator fires and carbon monoxide poisoning reportedly claimed the lives of 75 people.

“I can barely sleep with the sound of generators at night,” said Mahmoud, a refugee from Jabaliya Camp. “You can smell fuel wherever you go in Northern Gaza, everyone’s inhaling all sorts of crap.”

More info: Gaza humanitarian crisis

In pictures: Gaza power shortages