After the flames were doused and the smokes cleared, all S. Thyagarajan could salvage from his gutted apartment was a briefcase, his wife's burned passport and a couple of shirts. The rest of his personal possessions amounting to about Dh50,000, including years of memories, vanished.
"The whole house has been reduced to ashes. I lost everything, all my appliances, electronic items, jewellery — you name it. I just walked out with a briefcase that contained some important documents," recalls Thyagarajan, who works as an assistant manager for enterprise resource planning at a major company in Dubai.
The Indian expatriate, who, along with more than 50 families, was displaced by a massive fire that engulfed a 14-storey residential building in Sharjah on July 6. He is one of the thousands of tenants in the UAE who don't have insurance for personal belongings.
An insurance plan is a financial tool that can provide cover to a policyholder's property and its contents in the event of damage from fire, floods, natural disasters and unforeseen accidents. Although actual items may not be brought back, those that have insurance are entitled to a financial claim that can tide them over a crisis or help them rebuild their homes.
With all his personal treasures gone, Thyagarajan now wonders is if he will be compensated for the items he lost during the fire. "What exactly are we entitled to in terms of compensation? Who's going to pay for all that we've been through? I don't know the rules of this country," he says.
The expat raised the same question to his real estate agent and was advised that, based on the terms of their tenancy agreement, he should not expect payment for the damage.
"I've talked with the guy handling the property and he said there's nothing for us as far as tenancy is concerned. There's no coverage. He has to check, though whether the building is covered," he recalls.
He realises now that things could not have been worse had he gotten himself his own insurance. Had he done so, he says, he would have been entitled to some financial benefits that could help him get back on his feet quickly.
"It never came to mind because I never expected such a horrible thing to happen to me and my family. I've seen fires in Sharjah where one apartment got burned down. But this scenario is different. The magnitude of the fire was so huge that 55 to 56 residents became destitute overnight. The worst thing is, you're in an alien country and you're at a loss at what to do and where to get help from," he points out.
Thyagarajan, who has two sons ages 15 and 18, says one of the things he feels sorry for are the lost memorabilia he had accumulated all through his 18 years of expatriate life in the Gulf. "I've been here for so many years so I'd been carrying a lot of memories with me, including those that I earned during my career. All these things are gone now and you can't replace them no matter what," he says with a hint of remorse in his voice.
"I'm still lucky, though, because my office, colleagues and relatives have been there for me. Sadly, it's not the case for everybody. I'm on my way to reestablishing myself, and as they say, time is a healer," Thyagarajan says.
Jitesh Sundar, who was also displaced by the same fire, considers himself lucky that he managed to recover all his belongings. But the accountant says it will be worth investing in an insurance policy in the future.
Sundar's apartment, located on the 11th floor, somehow managed to remain intact. So, even though he still rants about how his wife and two-year-old boy narrowly escaped tragedy because no one alerted them to the fire, he is grateful that everything turned out fine.
"When I saw the front side of the building raging with fire, I felt I lost everything. Thankfully, our house was spared because it was on the back side of the building.
"Most of all, my family is safe. They could have been trapped in the building because no one called out to them and they didn't hear the sound of a fire siren. They ran for the stairs at the last minute, when they realised the building was already in flames," he recalls.
"But given what we've been through, I think having insurance is really worth it. Normally, people don't insure their belongings. I have not done that myself, but I think it's important to have one, especially when you have costly things in your apartment," Sundar adds.
- 95%: share of UAE home owners who don't haveinsurance
- Dh3,000: minimum worth of goods whose receipts should be kept for insurers after fire
Have your say
Have you applied for fire insurance? If not, why? What are the precautions you take to save your house from a potential fire accident?
