Asking the brave Qatari workers who make up the small swath of the country who live in private homes to live amid more than a year of regular dust storms and air pollution presents an untenable daily struggle, in a country with a migrant population roughly 90 percent lower than the native Qatari population. The solution, they say, is rehousing workers in built-up areas.
“They [the Qataris] don’t believe it’s true. We shouldn’t move,” explained Ermina Januari, 44, who moved into a three-room apartment with her husband and 12 children seven months ago. “They tell us we’re going to die out here. It’s just their mentality.”
And death is now a commonplace occurrence. Januari’s family survived a dust storm that enveloped their home in less than an hour, leaving nails and glass embedded in the walls. The family moved into the second floor of the residence and threw down blankets and bedrolls to shield their family from the mounds of rubbish that can reach 40 degrees above zero and 15 to 30 m(yards) thick.