SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The ruins of a village in Duhok province abandoned 36 years ago and submerged under the water of a dam have suddenly resurfaced due to sinking water-levels in the drought-hit Region.
The construction of the dam, two kilometers north of Duhok, started in 1985 and prompted the resettlement of Guiri Qasrouka’s 50 families.
Guiri Qasrouka was then swallowed by the waters which serve to irrigate surrounding farmland.
Director of Duhok Dam Farhad Tahir told AFP that the reservoir’s water level dropped by seven meters in September due to drought caused by scent rain fall in the Kurdistan Region.
The decline in the dam’s water level has brought the village back to the surface, Tahir added.
“This phenomenon is certainly linked to climate change,” AFP quoted him as saying.
The official further said the ruins had also reappeared in 2009, 1999 and 1992.
Visitors on foot can now view the stone walls of a Guiri Qasrouka home that is still standing, according to AFP.
The algae-splattered and shell-indented ruins are set against a backdrop of the towering mountains of the Kurdistan Region.
Villagers, who had fled between 1974 and 1976 during a Kurdish uprising, built a new Guiri Qasrouka nearby, after receiving financial compensation.
