Floods, elections and swine flu dominate Tunisian blogs

2009-10-06

Bloggers in Tunisia are mourning victims of flooding in the south of the country, while others are questioning health officials' preparedness to beat the H1N1 (swine flu) virus.

By Mona Yahia for Magharebia in Tunis – 06/10/09

[Fethi Belaid/AFP/Getty Images] The upcoming elections are on the minds of Tunisian bloggers, but the deadly floods to the south loom even larger.

Tunisian bloggers have spent the last two weeks focused on the upcoming October 25th elections, as well as government measures to head off a swine flu epidemic. But most of all, they have been preoccupied with the lethal floods in the country's southern region.

"As a token of solidarity with the families of the [flood] victims and in respect for their grief – Thursday the 24th and Friday, September 25th, 2009 – have been declared days of mourning on all Tunisian websites," wrote Barbach.

The blogger made available a mourning banner and urged others to reproduce it on their sites. The banner honours the victims of the floods that swept across southern Tunisian cities recently, killing more than 20 people and injuring countless others.

Tunis Wanderings discussed the disaster from a historical perspective, noting that "Catastrophic flooding has always ravaged our country; in recent memory the strong floods of 1902, to which meteorological records still bear witness." The blogger recounts that there were floods in 1931, a deluge that swamped coastal Sousse and Kairouan in the heart of Tunisia, and high waters in 1969 that killed over 540 people.

Bent Alya, focusing on the growing Tunisian fear of swine flu, described an incident in which a girl at school fainted. Civil defence officials were immediately summoned, but they cautiously stayed far from the girl out of fear they would catch the swine flu. Students panicked and took to their heels, and rumours spread like wildfire.

In the end, the girl did not even have swine flu. Bent Ayla concluded that unless tangible and efficient measures were taken, rumours would again run rampant. She blamed such reactions on the scarcity of information about the disease and public officials' lack of training.

"Maybe the country has prepared itself for the virus….Unfortunately, the human element, the training and assistance, are still lacking. And if the health staff lack awareness and are driven by fear and the unknown, how can we blame citizens who don't know which way is up when they see someone sneeze?" added the blogger.

With regard to the upcoming legislative and presidential contests, Nakhlat Oued el-Bey asked, "Why did elections in Tunisia reject [candidate] lists?" He was referring to reports that more than half of the candidates nominated for the legislative elections were rejected. The author also offered a poem:

• The nation cast their votes transparently and with freedom of speech
• Having discussed programs and issues of destiny.
• Results were soon announced with no cheating or forgery.
• Having gone through ballots,
• It turns out that people's main concern is bills
• And their only wish is to save some dinars.
• They are after a life with no thought or debate,
• Except about the championship and who the Cup will go to.

Manichaeus focused on coverage of the presidential candidates in the newspapers Assabah, L’Automne and La Presse. He concluded that coverage of the candidates, including the incumbent president and opposition candidates Muhamad Bouchiha, Ahmad Inoubli, Ahmad Brahim and Mustafa Ben Jaafar, has not been the same.

"It is no secret that candidacy before the constitutional council is basically a symbolic act," he wrote. "No candidate is expected to disclose his agenda on the day of submitting his candidacy file. On the other hand, however, candidacy is of prime importance, as it is portrayed as an official and actual event."

As for opposition candidates, he wrote, "The day of submitting their candidacy is a chance to appear on national and international media. We can only ask: 'What have our national newspapers done to cover candidates running for the presidency?'"