UNAIZAH, 6 August 2007 — A crisis resulting from a lack of space at the municipality-managed graveyard in Unaizah in the Qasim region was resolved after a citizen donated a parcel of land adjoining the cramped burial site, according to the Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper.
Citizens were complaining that the 200 square meters of unused space wasn’t enough to accommodate the usual attendance at burials.
The donated land amounts to approximately 13,000 square meters, more than enough to serve the community for years to come, municipal officials said, pointing out that about 400 burials take place in the cemetery each year. The cemetery serves the entire municipality.
Until the donation was made local officials were planning to establish a new cemetery on the outskirts of the town, a move local residents frowned upon due to the distance.
Residents were also concerned that the proposed graveyard was located on the bed of a small wadi prone to occasional flooding.
The remaining space of the old cemetery will be used to inter children and foreigners, municipal officials said, due to the relatively low attendance at such burials.
