The unfinished cookie. The puffy comb. The untidy bed. The heartwarming photos on the desk. The adorable laptop background. The heartbreaking repeated screensaver. They are not as joyful as they were to the parents of those who were lost in the tragic fire catastrophe at the Villagio shopping mall in Doha on Monday.
Nineteen innocent souls, including 13 children, were killed in the fire. The children and staff of the Gympanzee daycare centre and nursery were trapped by the blaze. and that led to the death of seven young girls, six boys, four teachers and two members of the Civil Defence team.
Many questions will be answered and the uncertainty will be revealed by the experts of the probe committee headed by the Chairman of the Administrative Control and Transparency Authority, Abdullah Bin Hamad Al Attiya.
The investigation committee was formed by the Deputy Emir and Heir Apparent Shaikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani and the investigation is expected to divulge who dropped the ball and how can this be avoided in the future. As part of the investigation, the attorney general has already ordered the detention of five people, including the owners of the mall and Gympanzee.
This sad incident has shown the crisis management strengths and weaknesses of the different players in the trio of the society’s pillars: the governmental agencies, the private sector and civil society. The weakest link was the Qatari audio and visual media, which was unable to live up to its responsibility and inform the public or to follow up on the stories.
Qatar TV was bashed by the Qatari tweeps and by the print media through their editors and columnists. This triggered a general consensus that an expediting of Qatar TV’s reform process should be amongst the country’s priorities.
On the other hand the Ministry of Interior Affairs and the Supreme Council of Health were prompt in their response and two brave souls sacrificed their lives trying to rescue the trapped individuals. Both ministries utilised new media tools to keep the public informed and their efforts were highly commended by people in Qatar. Both ministers were at the site during the incident and later on for the journalists at a press conference with the local media.
The surprise was the third pillar of society, which was represented in two folds. The first was Dohanews.co, which showed a true representation of first-class citizen journalism. Shabina Khatri and Omar Chatiwala were prompt in keeping the public informed about the intricacies of the tragedy, second by second, through different platforms and then complemented their efforts with exceptional follow up of the aftermath.
Their interaction with the public through Twitter contributed to better coverage and hence quelled the rumours that were spreading because of the absence of Qatar TV and other media outlets. The second fold was the public, who showed the real values of Qatari society and became a stronger and a more integrated community on the day of the incident and the following day.
Although Twitter was abuzz, nothing touched people’s hearts nor watered their eyes like the sight of hundreds of Qataris and expatriates of different nationalities and religions who gathered at Aspire Park for a vigil to support the families of those who died and offer their condolences.
The beauty of the Qatari mosaic was shown at a critical moment that will never be forgotten. Qatar was mourning and the tears were no different in both the Abu Hamour cemetery where the Islamic funeral took place and the Catholic Church at Abu Hamour where the memorial took place.
There are a lot of questions that are being asked now by the public in Qatar about licensing in general, with a focus on the standard of safety requirements, procedures, monitoring and implementation not only in nurseries and shopping malls but also in all other public facilities.
The anxiety was also fuelled by three other smaller incidents that occurred on the day after the Villagio fire - at the Qatar Aeronautical College, Fatima Bint Al Waleed Bin Al Mugheera Primary School for girls in Muaither and in Al Mansoura area. Luckily there were no injuries.
The Qatari public as well as the rest of those who are planning to visit Qatar soon will be waiting for the results of the investigation, following actions and, most importantly, for a nation-wide exercise on raising the standards in safety requirements and awareness.
Hassan A. Al Ibrahim is a Qatar current affairs commentator and the Co-Founder of FIKRA Consulting and Research, a Qatari Think/Do Tank You can follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/halibrahim
