News:Readout of the Briefing of the UN Community on Mosul Dam

Today, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power co-hosted with the Government of Iraq, UNDP, and UN OCHA, an information session on the Mosul Dam at the U.S. Mission. The briefing was attended by Permanent Representatives, Deputy Permanent Representatives and UN stakeholders.

The Mosul Dam faces a serious and unprecedented risk of catastrophic failure with little warning. Approximately 500,000 to 1.47 million Iraqis live in the flood path and are at serious risk in the event of a breach. Members of today’s panel – including Iraq’s Ambassador to the United Nations Mohammed Al-Hakim, technical experts from the U.S. Army Corps of engineers, and representatives from UNDP and UN OCHA – briefed attendees on the history and structural features of the Mosul Dam, the steps the Government of Iraq is taking to educate its people on the risks of breach, and the measures Iraq and the international community are taking to try to shore up the dam. They also received an alarming report on the status of the latest UN emergency appeal for Iraq, which is only 8 percent funded to date.

The following can be attributed to Ambassador Samantha Power, U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN:

“The briefings on the Mosul Dam today were chilling. While important steps have been taken to address a potential breach, the dam could still fail. In the event of a breach, there is the potential in some places for a flood wave up to 14 meters high that could sweep up everything in its path, including people, cars, unexploded ordnance, waste and other hazardous material, further endangering massive population centers that lie in the flood path. It is crucial that all UN member states quickly get informed about the magnitude of the problem and the importance of readiness to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions. We all must intensify our efforts to ensure that urgently-needed repair work is undertaken as soon as possible and that people across Iraq understand the risks and the best evacuation routes. We also must collectively fund the UN emergency appeal for Iraq and ensure that the UN and other relief organizations on the ground are better positioned to respond to a dam failure. The stakes are too high, and the potential consequences too devastating, for us not to confront this problem now.”