Living in Doha this week has been full of ups and downs, probably more
of the latter but that's not usually the case. For those of you not
aware, one week ago today there was a tragic fire at Villagio shopping
mall, here in Doha. Tragically 19 people were killed and 13 of those
were children.
The grief that has swept this small community has been overwhelming. Uncontrollable tears for the parents of children that perished and the families of the 2 teachers and 2 emergency workers that chose to stay with the little ones. Anger has also set in hard.
The growth that Doha has experienced in the last 6 years is beyond imaginable. Malls and skyscrapers are going up at such alarming rates that the quality of construction and workmanship is very questionable. Fires are common here, it's not unusual to see a villa up in flames, we all know that the electrical work leaves a lot to be desired but never has there been such a tragic outcome as there was last week at Villagio. In many minds, rightly so, this tragedy was avoidable. Only some fire alarms went off, there were no proper evacuation procedures in place, the nursery where all 19 perished was simply not a suitable venue to be operating as a nursery and we all heard too many stories of people in the mall being told there was nothing to worry about or it was false alarm. Once the nursery's wooden staircase collapsed, there was no way out. There will be many unanswered questions surrounding this terrible day and given the outcry there will be harsh penalties for those that are found accountable. Every parent here in Doha all thought and knew that it could have been any one of us waking up tomorrow without our most treasured possessions. All we can hope is that the local authorities learn from this and enforce appropriate measures to avoid this ever happening again.
There is so much more I could write on this to express my grief and anger but like many here in Doha, I have to take a step back. After a week of being glued to Facebook, Twitter and Doha News, teary outbursts, wondering around the house feeling numb and so bitterly angry, I am in the fortunate position that I can take a step back and put my arms around Miss B, something that others will so sadly never do again. Something that did cross my mind in an attempt to reason with my thoughts, as a 'Westerner', it is very easy to criticise and make it a cultural issue and think that this would never happen at home due to our standards. It could and it has. What we do have to consider is that many parts of the Western world have a long history of devastating fires and it is only through these tragic experiences that measures have been put into place to try and avoid such tragedies occurring in the future. In my mind, I picture the Doha skyline 6 years ago to that of today and this country too needs to unfortunately go through it's history and learn from it. By no means is this my only opinion on the events of this week but it was one of my more rational thoughts in amongst the grief and anger.
The grief that has swept this small community has been overwhelming. Uncontrollable tears for the parents of children that perished and the families of the 2 teachers and 2 emergency workers that chose to stay with the little ones. Anger has also set in hard.
The growth that Doha has experienced in the last 6 years is beyond imaginable. Malls and skyscrapers are going up at such alarming rates that the quality of construction and workmanship is very questionable. Fires are common here, it's not unusual to see a villa up in flames, we all know that the electrical work leaves a lot to be desired but never has there been such a tragic outcome as there was last week at Villagio. In many minds, rightly so, this tragedy was avoidable. Only some fire alarms went off, there were no proper evacuation procedures in place, the nursery where all 19 perished was simply not a suitable venue to be operating as a nursery and we all heard too many stories of people in the mall being told there was nothing to worry about or it was false alarm. Once the nursery's wooden staircase collapsed, there was no way out. There will be many unanswered questions surrounding this terrible day and given the outcry there will be harsh penalties for those that are found accountable. Every parent here in Doha all thought and knew that it could have been any one of us waking up tomorrow without our most treasured possessions. All we can hope is that the local authorities learn from this and enforce appropriate measures to avoid this ever happening again.
There is so much more I could write on this to express my grief and anger but like many here in Doha, I have to take a step back. After a week of being glued to Facebook, Twitter and Doha News, teary outbursts, wondering around the house feeling numb and so bitterly angry, I am in the fortunate position that I can take a step back and put my arms around Miss B, something that others will so sadly never do again. Something that did cross my mind in an attempt to reason with my thoughts, as a 'Westerner', it is very easy to criticise and make it a cultural issue and think that this would never happen at home due to our standards. It could and it has. What we do have to consider is that many parts of the Western world have a long history of devastating fires and it is only through these tragic experiences that measures have been put into place to try and avoid such tragedies occurring in the future. In my mind, I picture the Doha skyline 6 years ago to that of today and this country too needs to unfortunately go through it's history and learn from it. By no means is this my only opinion on the events of this week but it was one of my more rational thoughts in amongst the grief and anger.
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