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Fire in Qatar Mall

 
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2012 12:53 am    Post subject: Fire in Qatar Mall Reply with quote

At least 19 are dead according to the BBC. The mall is the Villagio and most of the victims are children (and teachers) from the nursery onsite, mainly expats it seems. Here are two links with videos and slightly different details.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18243136

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/05/2012528135025997336.html

Seems that there were no functioning sprinklers...

VS
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misterkodak



Joined: 04 Apr 2003
Posts: 166
Location: Neither Here Nor There

PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2012 12:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This was an accident waiting to happen. A few years back when I was working at QP, they moved the Corporate Training courses to villagio. The place upstairs had no windows and as it was newly constructed and painted, students were getting sick off the fumes and the dust. The powers that be were informed about all this but turned a blind eye. It's a wonder this didn't happen sooner!
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2012 2:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The lack of safety rules and failure to enforce those that do exist is covered up by the glitz in the Gulf.

Terrible for the families involved...

VS
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bulgogiboy



Joined: 23 Feb 2005
Posts: 803

PostPosted: Wed May 30, 2012 11:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Let's hope the owners of the nursery and the shopping mall, who bear most responsibility, aren't able to 'wasta' their way out of receiving jail time for this avoidable tragedy. They've been arrested, but it remains to be seen if they will get a suitably severe punishment for their negligence. What worries me is the possibility that, because no Qataris were killed, the government won't pursue lengthy jail sentences for all the guilty parties.
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blastermill



Joined: 30 Aug 2011
Posts: 101

PostPosted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 5:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's a terrible situation. A lot of innocent heads will roll. Other malls are just as bad - City Center is terrible - building the car park for more shops and hardly any exits. It is a very dangerous building to be in. The area where kids play - Extreme World - has no emergency exit. Likewise for most of the other malls.

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=510014&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16
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bulgogiboy



Joined: 23 Feb 2005
Posts: 803

PostPosted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 8:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

blastermill wrote:
It's a terrible situation. A lot of innocent heads will roll. Other malls are just as bad - City Center is terrible - building the car park for more shops and hardly any exits. It is a very dangerous building to be in. The area where kids play - Extreme World - has no emergency exit. Likewise for most of the other malls.

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=510014&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16


The cinemas are death traps too, with no emergency exits inside the individual movie areas. It's yet another tragedy waiting to happen.
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blastermill



Joined: 30 Aug 2011
Posts: 101

PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 5:40 pm    Post subject: Safety and Security Campaign Reply with quote

This is a good thing. City Center people have become greedy and started building shops in the underground parking lot. Then they built a parking lot across the stress with minibuses to take you to the mall. Crazy. They used the old parking lot to build a hotel - why not build the hotel across the street instread of taking up valuable parking space, not to mention removing an important outside emergency exit.


http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/qatar/198011-city-center-remains-closed.html
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millie18



Joined: 23 Oct 2007
Posts: 185

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 3:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The last thing they need at City Centre is to have all the doors open automatically - especially if the fire is in the car park or lower levels. The place is built like 4 or 5 chimneys (the atrium, the elevator areas at either end and the escalators down to the car park).

The cinemas were closed at the 3rd largest mall yesterday for safety issues. The play area at one of the smaller older malls was closed as well but it is uncertain why.

I go to the malls that are all on one level and I go early to avoid the crowds so that I can get out if needed.

Unfortunately, with summer heat, finding a place to spend your free time outside your home is limited. It must be maddening to be in a flat you share with 5 or 6 other people (not unusual, sometimes more) or a family in a 2 or 3 bed flat (and a lot of them are very small) with the kids bouncing off the walls.

I'm looking forward to getting out in a few weeks.
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battleshipb_b



Joined: 14 Dec 2006
Posts: 189

PostPosted: Tue Jun 11, 2013 1:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A big shame.

http://dohanews.co/post/51536579765/a-year-after-the-villaggio-fire-critical-voices-have
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