Pile up of past errors caused Jeddah disaster, says Makkah governor

Jeddah: A major workshop to chart out a roadmap to achieve comprehensive development of the worst flood-hit eastern districts of Jeddah was kicked off in the city on Tuesday evening.

Inaugurating the three-day event, Makkah Governor Prince Khalid Al Faisal underscored the significance of mapping out an appropriate and flawless mechanism to ensure not to repeat such catastrophic incidents in the future.

The damages caused by the heavy rain and flashflood, which struck on November 25, intensified due to the piling up of a number of past aberrations and mistakes; "we have to come out with remedial measures so as not to commit such mistakes anymore", he said.

The death toll due to the devastating flood has reached 124 and at least some 32 people are still missing.

Although nine weeks have passed since the floods that damaged and destroyed hundreds of buildings and left thousands of people without homes, some of the worst-hit areas in the eastern and southern parts of the city still remain dilapidated.

The Makkah governor, who is the head of the high-level panel, constituted by King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz to conduct a thorough probe into the catastrophic rainstorm, has directed the participants in the workshop to come out with concrete proposals and suggestions to address the basic problems of the flood-hit regions. "There is no problem without a solution. I do want to tell you that you should present proposals to achieve comprehensive development of the flood-hit regions of eastern Jeddah. We would then carry out studies on those proposals and then present them to the higher authorities for approval and implementation," he said.

Highlighting the significance of Jeddah, Prince Khalid said: "Jeddah is a lovely city for all of us. It is the gateway to the two holy mosques. It is the pride of the Red Sea. People from all over the world are coming to this great city, which boasts of having rich traditions and exquisite features and characteristics. This historic city witnessed a catastrophe resulting in the loss of several precious lives and huge properties. All these happened due to piling up of our past aberrations... We are gathering here to work out a flawless mechanism to deter repeating such mistakes in future," he said.

The opening session was also attended by Jeddah Governor Prince Mesha'al Bin Majed, Jeddah Mayor Adel Faqeeh, Undersecretary at the Makkah Governorate, Dr Abdul Aziz Al Khodairi, and a number of other senior officials.

Several working papers are being presented at the workshop, highlighting various aspects of the development of the flood-hit regions. Top officials from the Jeddah Mayoralty, Civil Defence Directorate, Transport Department, Geological Survey Authority, Meteorology & Environmental Protection Administration (MEPA), King Abdul Aziz University and Saudi Water Company are presenting working papers with proposals to address all the basic problems facing the region.