DUBAI Dubai residents can now access a first of its kind map to know which pests exist in which parts of the city.
Drawn up by facilities and waste management major Imdaad and pest control and home service company MoveSouq.com, the recently released pest graph is the outcome of an online “creepy crawly” survey of over 200 residents to understand pest control problems in Dubai.
Respondents come from different areas like Jebel Ali, the Palm, Dubai Marina, Barsha, Greens, Motor City, Sports City, Jumeirah/Umm Suqueim, Business Bay, Downtown, Silicon Oasis, Arabian Ranches, Ras Al Khor, Garhoud, Al Quoz, Al Qusais, Mirdif, Deira, Oud Mehta, Satwa, Bur Dubai and Karama.
MoveSouq.com CEO Bana Shomali told XPRESS that although the graph captures responses from all over Dubai, the majority of complaints come from Deira, Satwa and Bur Dubai.
She said: “The scale in the graph represents the proportion of pest control complaints by area. For example, Deira has 10 times more complaints than Dubai Marina for cockroach issues.”
Out of the total number of complaints, 40 per cent concerns bedbugs, 40 per cent cockroaches, 10 per cent ants and 10 per cent spiders, snakes and lizards.
According to the results, 35 per cent of the respondents arranged for pest control services for their homes in the last three months.
The survey offers some curious insights.
An Arabian Ranches resident said: “I have deadly spiders in my garden that you can only find in Australia.”
Online survey
An Al Qusais respondent wrote: “I have lizards and rats the size of a half kg chicken along with hundreds of roaches.”
Another Satwa resident noted: “There are so many roaches in our house. You can sometimes see them roaming our beds.”
Shomali said the survey was conducted through February. “We launched an online survey via our site and social media channels asking Dubai residents to list the different types of pest control issues they faced in the last six months.”
She said: “We continuously launch surveys to understand what the major issues facing home owners and tenants in the UAE are. We had recently seen a surge in requests on our portal for pest control issues, and so we launched this survey to understand the reasons, and also to ensure we had the right types of companies on our site.”
Mahmood Hussein Rasheed, COO, Imdaad, said: “Cockroaches and bedbugs continue to be a major pest control issue in Dubai. Imdaad offers an integrated solution for pest management which includes initial consultation with customers to know their specific needs and survey of the property to draw a service solution plan.”
For more info visit: movesouq.com
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