November 25h, marked the second anniversary of #JeddahRain tragedy that happened back in 2009, a historical rainstorm that marked a day of unforgotten tragedy to all the residents of the city, with a death toll of 120 lives (reported) and more than 350 people missing.
No one who lived in jeddah can deny the damage that affected every house in jeddah that day,if you were safe,someone who is related to you,your friend or coworker,must got affected,either by his house getting flooded,or his car,or at least got stranded in the streets that were at that day nothing but a catastrophic scene of chaos.
of course media and social networks rage followed,a famous hashtag was created #jeddahRain and everyone is blaming the other on why this happened,some said the rain was the heaviest in 27 years and the cities infrastructure was not built to withstand such soaking rain, others blamed the flooding to the corruption and negligence of certain officials and government sectors who were responsible to foresee such events and prepare for it long term and short term.
City residents demanded a public prosecution of all the officials who were responsible for the tragedy, and as we all know, an investigation was initiated,however up until this second, no one have been condemned or found guilty.
Stories are a lot,scars are even more,memories are stuck in everyones minds, sadly in a city that rarely sees rain like jeddah,its population does not get excited when they see the dark clouds like they used to anymore,it immediately puts the city under alert and the families hold their kids from going to schools and everyone gets ready for a scene that they pray for it not to occur.
its 2011 now and the rain season is upon us once again,on the anniversary of that tragic day,a group of jeddah youth were gathered in the district that was one of the worst victims of that day,and in an act of solidarity to everyone who was affected by the tragedy they did a field visit to all the houses and families that the volunteers helped during those dark days and as a reminder of the tragedy so that it will never be forgotten.
you can see a youtube of the event here :
it ended with the saying "We will never forget,We will never forgive".
Shoura Council Member Mr.Najeeb alZamil wrote in AlEqtisadiya newspaper about this youtube sharing his sentiments with the youth.
What is your memory of that day? where were you? do you know anyone who got affected by the rain? share your experience.
2 comments:
Well I was in Riyadh at the time but I had some friends that were deeply affected by it..One nurse went into such a state of shock from the course of events and lack of help, information or resources from the government that she applied for an emergency visa and packed her bags and left home, telling horror stories about Saudi Arabia back in Finland..I thought it was sad..
another nurse friend works in the ER of a large gov hospital, told me how emergency rm filled with patients and chaos resulted with nobody knowing what was going on, the whole hospital also started leaking from the ceilings and they had to put buckets everywhere to gather the water!!I think the guy ended up working three shifts in a row.
I was in Singapore, we actually JUST left the country only a few days before the tragic day... Thankfully nobody I know was badly hurt, however there was a lot of damage and flooding, and some relatives cars were washed away. All I remember, is how i was stuck to the internet and facebook to keep up with news and updates of what was going on. I couldn't believe the photos and videos that were spreading like wild fire. It didn't look like Jeddah. The images of cars being swept away on the highway were horrifying.
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