Senin, 30 November 2009

Jeddah Aftermath: Is it the Time for Punishment ?

All Saudi news are talking about the new orders by the King about what happened in Jeddah. It's good that there will be compensation for those who died, who reached over 100, , but i wish and hope that the committee they form is not going to end with nothing and that it will name names . Justice need to be served for everyone, those who died, those who lost their property and everyone in the city of Jeddah. We will wait and see.

This is the piece from Arab News newspaper.



King Abdullah orders probe, compensation

Muhammad Humaidan | Arab News
JEDDAH: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah ordered an immediate payment of SR1 million to the family of each person who died in last week’s flood in Jeddah. The king also ordered the setting up of a high-level committee that will be headed by Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal and will consist of Jeddah Gov. Prince Mishaal bin Majed and representatives of various ministries. The committee will study the extent of the damage due to the calamity. It will also study the causes of the crisis and recommend ways to ensure that it does not happen again.
“It is painful that many countries, some with even less potential than the Kingdom, experience similar rainfall almost every day, but there are no devastation of the magnitude we witnessed in Jeddah and that saddens us,” said the king.
He also said that those responsible for this tragedy would be taken to task.
“We cannot ignore the fact that there were mistakes and failures on the part of some departments and it is our duty to identify those responsible and take action against them.”
Earlier, Prince Khaled Al-Faisal speaking at a press conference, attributed the catastrophe in Jeddah to the delay in implementing drainage projects in the city. He also cited the ongoing construction on valley passes in most of the affected districts as being the reason for the tragedy.
He assured the people of Jeddah that all measures had been taken to deal with any emergency situation.
“We are facing problems for which we should find immediate solutions. We have committees currently assessing the damage, pointing out the causes of the disaster and suggesting remedies,” he said. He said money was already being paid to people who have been provided accommodation.
“The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the second deputy premier are very concerned about the condition of Jeddah after the rains and floods,” he added.
Prince Mishaal, director of Civil Defense Maj. Gen. Saad Al-Tuwaijri, Mayor of Jeddah Adel Fakieh, director of Jeddah police Maj. Gen. Ali Al-Saadi Al-Ghamdi and director of roads and bridges in Makkah region Mufrih Al-Zahrani also attended the conference at Prince Khaled’s Jeddah home.
“The catastrophe was big. Of course crises happen everywhere else in the world. We should consider what happened in Jeddah with rationality and impartiality, not with emotions. We convey our condolences to the families who lost their members in this tragedy and assure them that the lost ones are also our sons and daughters,” said Prince Khaled. He added rescue and recovery work was still continuing and would finish in days.
Al-Tuwaijri said the Civil Defense has all the necessary tools and qualified staff to deal with any type of emergency. He said Civil Defense personnel had been involved in similar situations outside Saudi Arabia in the past. He added the Civil Defense dealt with the disaster as was required and would deal with new developments as necessary.
When Arab News questioned him why no evacuation plans had been drawn up despite the Baladiyyah being warned last month that the lack of drains and expected heavy rains could result in disaster, Fakieh conceded lessons had to be learned. He however added that evacuation plans were the responsibility of the Civil Defense. There was also the issue of where to evacuate people, he said, adding it would have been disastrous if they had been moved to the path of floods. In any case, the primary concern had been the sewage lake in a hill east of the city, he claimed.
Prince Mishaal said the catastrophe has sounded a warning bell as to what might happen in the future. “We should never allow what happened to repeat itself in the future,” he said.


9 komentar:

  1. I hope we see a real change! The problem is that if they lose their positions in Jeddah, they will be compensated with same positions in different city and the story continues!

    BalasHapus
  2. Really hope that this matter will be solved soon :) Pity the people in Jeddah :(

    BalasHapus
  3. This was one of the most tragic and preventable catastrophes. Thank you for the update,muse. On another note, I love your blog's new look. So cute!

    BalasHapus
  4. its really sad...to bad finacial compensation wont bring those back who lost their life.

    ...........
    i'm curious how they would distibute the money...what if one has a wife only..will she get it..or will it go to his family?
    ....
    its very said what happened!

    BalasHapus
  5. Poet, the same hope here though i am sure nothing big will happen .

    C, hopefully soon dear.

    desert, indeed it was preventable but thanx to corruption. and thanx for your compliments :)

    angie,compensation wont bring the dead but at least it shows that those ruling care even a bit and i share the same concern, how are they going to divided it ? . it was a very sad day .

    BalasHapus
  6. I am not sure about the accountability and if it will really happen. I remember reading a story about how a family member of one of the leading figures in Jeddah got a large sum of money from the government to build a waste treatment facility in Jeddah. I guess the old ones were outisde the city and in bad condition, the worry being a small earthquake could cause a collapse and Jeddah would then be covered in several feet of raw sewage.

    Turns out the man ran off with the money, built large houses in Saudi and the US. When it was found out, because of his connections, he was not forced to pay the money back and faced no real punishment.

    That is par for course in the Middle East, the problem is that the money was never replaced and as of the time of the book, the sewage system hadnt been rebuilt.

    BalasHapus
  7. The thing is, how are millons of riyals going to compensate for the many lives lost? I would be very insulted!

    I guess anger and humiliation is still felt and I hope that something comes out of those.

    It's very hard to hear, read and watch. We are one of the richest countires, It's not like we couldn't afford to prevent this!

    BalasHapus
  8. ابوسنان
    nothing will change, that's iam sure of, but we hope that the right things will happen, that's why the delight about the news. well, we will wait and see .

    mature, i understand your anger, but to compensate is better than no one cares about those death. it's so mad and stupid what hapepned and nothing and no amount of money will fix it but at least to show that they care.

    BalasHapus
  9. nice post. thanks.

    BalasHapus