Job Discussion Forums

[travelbug]

I was wondering what everyone thinks about the issue of safety in the ME. With everything going on in the news - car bombs in SA for example - how much does it affect your life there now? Have you had any potentially disastrous run-ins, or the opposite? I'd love to hear about it, because that is one main factor that dissuades me from life in the ME. Thanks.

[Gnocchiman]

Living in the middle of the desert in the United Arab Emirates, I really don't think about safety a lot (well, when I drive I do ). To be honest with you, when I travel to Europe or the States I'm always a little more concerned about my safety than when I'm here. It might be a different story for those living in places like Saudi or Kuwait. The sad truth is, most of us ME teachers actually live fairly calm, uneventful lives here-kind of like living in the suburbs with lots of sand. The closest I've gotten to terrorism is having some big fat woman covered in black cutting in front of me at the checkout at Carrefour's (a French Walmart). Jihad, indeed!

[scot47]

I feel safer in urban Saudi Arabia than in New York, London or Madrid.

Driving is dangerous here and I minimise my exposure to traffic accidents.

For those who worship the Internal Combustion Engine, that might be difficult. I know that for some of my colleagues owning a car is like owning a pair of shoes. I manage without.

[scot47]

After recent events in Yanbu and Riyadh I no longer feel so safe. Downright jumpy in fact.

What would it take for me and a host of others to flee the KofSA ?

[Boy Wonder]

KSA...no way...too many bombs and gun incidents for me to feel safe whilst out walking 'Wolfie'...
Qatar....safe enough from bomb and gun incidents but didn't much appreciate the total 'merchant banker' who deliberately mounted the sidewalk and tried to run my friend and I over the other night...!!

May he rot in the place where all true non believers end up!!!

[Mark100]

I suggest you do a search on Saudi in the news section and see why so many over here are a little jumpy to say the least.

Not a great place to be at the moment.

A lot of westerners in essence are bunkered up and not going out at all aside from commuting to work.

This gets old very quickly.

[shebab]

The number of terrorist incidents in Saudi Arabia pales in comparison to what goes on in Colombia on a daily basis. Despite the fact that I was living in Medellin at a time in the 90s when there were statistically more violent deaths in the city per 100,000 people than in Europe during WWII, my day to day routine was surprisingly uneventful. Things like being stopped on the street and frisked against the wall by an uzi-toting military policeman, hearing the occasional gunshot in the middle of the night, or being told not to visit a certain region because of guerilla incursions, just became part of that routine.

35 million Colombians have learned to live with a level of violence so acute that it boggles the mind. Yet they go about their daily routines at work and play and just live each day as it comes-generally making the country a fantastic place to be. If they are able to adapt to such a difficult situation, there is no reason why people living in Saudi can't learn to do the same.

I seriously doubt that the terrorist threat in Saudi can ever reach Colombian levels, even if its intensity and frequency escalates. It's just a question of people getting used to the situation and living with it, or simply leaving the country for more peaceful pastures...

[Mark100]

Shebab

Everything is relative i suppose and there are far more dangerous places than Saudi i imagine and dare i say probably even more dangerous than Colombia but that does not change the fact that Saudi is on the nose and that if you look western you are in fact a target.
Some people will no doubt be able to live with that and others will make their own arrangments.
Personally i come from a traditionally very safe country where i have always felt very secure, so the situation in Saudi is not pleasant for me and i am not used to it.
Now if you had come from Colombia to Saudi you may have an entirely different perspective on safety than what i do.

[shebab]

Mark 100 wrote:

[Eijse]

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