May God protect our country from calamities, whether natural or man-made. This country has always been a land of peace and security and as such may not sustain what follows major disasters. Our government has always been quick to extend a helping hand to others in distress, sending relief and other assistance to neighboring as well as distant countries, whenever they suffer from earthquakes, floods, drought or other disasters.
It is true this country is blessed by being protected from disasters. Nevertheless, it continues to experience man-made tragedies resulting from negligence, ignorance or greed. Many are associated with devastating fires which cause major human and material losses. This has been particularly apparent over the past few years, and people still remember with pain and sorrow the effects of various accidents that continue to generate debate.
Fires continue to be the most common accidents. People handle inflammable materials on a daily basis and yet fail to observe the most basic safety precautions. We have a civil defense department established more than 70 years ago; it was in fact among the first such bodies set up by the government. It is sad to say that this body has not developed and progressed as it should have done.
There has been some progress, but it has barely gone beyond equipment. The department might have acquired modern and sophisticated fire-fighting equipment but this has come at the expense of training and preparedness. The concept of fire-fighting seems to be confined to screaming sirens and flooding the site with water, which usually results in destroying what was not burned by the fire itself.
Just have a look at what our newspapers have written in the last year and see how fires are being dealt with. It is always written that the firemen did everything possible in order to control the situation. This is indeed commendable and no doubt true, but in the end, what are we left with? Nothing. By the time the smoke clears, the entire site is in ruins despite the effort made to extinguish the fire. The reason is simple: It is an effort that lacks proper and sustained training.
We never hear of training teams from the United Nations or other international organizations — or even from friendly countries — coming here to train our firemen or of our firemen being sent abroad for advanced training. Fire-fighting is not just holding a hose and spraying water. It is a science and there is a technique to it that requires both training and experience.
— Arab News Local Press 22 September 2003
