Villaggio Fire a Tragedy Silenced

7/27/2019 Villaggio Fire a Tragedy Silenced

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VILLAGGIO FIRE: A TRAGEDY SILENCED

By Shabina S. Khatri, Omar Chatriwala and Julia Mills

With reporting from Riham Sheble and Victoria Scott

Smashwords edition, copyright 2013


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A publication of Doha News

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CONTENTS

Preface

Chapter 1 - The Fire

-Section 1 - News Travels

-Section 2 - Precious Minutes

-Section 3 - Tragic Truth

-Section 4 - The Victims

Chapter 2 - Aftermath

-Section 1 - The Day After

-Section 2 - Later On

-Section 3 - The Trial

Chapter 3 - Grieving Families

-Section 1 - Open Wounds

-Section 2 - Bereft At Home

-Section 3 - Waiting for Justice

-Section 4 - Too Quiet

Chapter 4 - A Country of Fires

-Section 1 - Unclear Standards

-Section 2 - A Long Road


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Chapter 5 - Qatari Voices

-Section 1 - Media Frozen

-Section 2 - A Wake Up Call

-Section 3 - Seeking Transparency

Chapter 6 - Villaggio Now

-Section 1 - Business As Usual?

-Section 2 - In Limbo


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PREFACE

It has been one full year since the Villaggio Mall fire, one of Qatar's worst tragedies in

recent memory. Not just because 19 people passed away that day, but because most ofthe victims were small children in a daycare center that wasnt evacuated, and no one

inside it survived.

The raw grief felt on May 28, 2012, has given way to anger and a lot of questions.

Namely, how could this happen, and who will be held responsible?

The relatives of the victims - those left behind - are also very much on our minds. How

are they coping, one year later? And, of course: how safe are we now? Could

something like this happen again?

Some 365 days later, we can answer some of those questions with certainty. Other

answers will take more time, as the court deliberates over who to hold accountable for a

toll that, for all intents and purposes, seems to have been entirely preventable.

For the last year, we have kept you up-to-date on all Villaggio-related developments.

We've encountered a number of obstacles along the way, in reporting on the trial,

speaking to stakeholders in the case and navigating the emotionally choppy waters of a

deep tragedy with as much sensitivity as possible.

Sadly, despite strong coverage in the days after the fire, the rest of Qatars news media

appears to have fallen silent. And, despite making bold promises in the days after the

fire, Qatars officials have largely stopped talking about the issue.

If there is any silver lining in this tragedy, it has been the good that has come out of the

community. In the aftermath of the fire, the tears shed, prayers offered, flowers given,

hands held, food cooked, and solidarity and kind words expressed by so many residents

and locals to those who lost their loved ones transcended the usual socioeconomic and

cultural markers that keep us apart.


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CHAPTER 1

THE FIRE

As images spread across the world - of thick smoke billowing from the mall, of

firefighters looking confused and unprepared, of parents breaking down in tears of grief,

of lifeless children being pulled from the roof - the question on everyones lips was,

why?


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Photo Credit: Ministry of Interior Qatar


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-SECTION 1

NEWS TRAVELS

Eighteen-month-old Evana Antonios woke up cranky on May 28 of last year. She didnt

even want to get out of bed, her mom recalls. But, as she had done almost every

weekday for the past three months, Manal Murgus dropped her daughter off at

Gympanzee, a daycare at Villaggio mall, and went to work.

Elena Travesedo went shopping at Villaggio after dropping three of her four children off

at Gympanzee - Almudena, 7, Camilo, 5, and Alfonso, 2 years old. Yolanda

Mascaraque did the same, leaving 7-year-old Isabel Vela in the play area.

Shameega Charles, a Gympanzee employee, reported to work that morning after

spending the weekend Skyping with her family in South Africa. She had turned 29 three

days earlier.

Three-and-a-half-year old Hana Sharabati had stayed home the day before because

she wasnt feeling well. Fifteen-month-old Umar Emeran also happened to be absent

that Sunday - but both were present on that fateful Monday morning.

For most of Qatar, the peace of that mundane morning was broken around 11am, when

the first reports of a fire at Villaggio started coming in. There was one tweet, and then

another, and then a crooked mobile phone photo taken from inside a car, with the

message: What is going on at Villaggio? Lots of smoke!

But at Villaggio, the disaster really began at least 15 minutes earlier, when a fluorescent

tube light short-circuited in a closet. The bulb was cheap, commonly used in Qatar, andthe cause of many of the fires here. In this instance, it was located in the upstairs

storage area of the Nike shop. The plastic components of the lamp overheated, causing

the bulb to burst and send smoldering pieces below, onto boxes filled with shoes, sports

jerseys and other gear.


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By the time Nike shop employees realized whats happening, it seemed to be too late.

An attempt to quell a fast-growing blaze yielded no result, and the smoke began to

spread.

News about the fire was spreading, too, and perhaps fastest on social media.

Ahem, reporting live from Ground Zero. The fire isn't as big as it seems. In fact the

alarms are off, Alim Salahud-din tells Doha News. But then he follows up: Fire is

getting larger.

Phone footage from inside the mall shows shoppers and staff looking more perplexed

than scared.

Gallery 1.1 The Mall Fills With Smoke

@Gigi66666: Some Random Dude, Posing In The Middle Of The Fire In Villagio.

pic.twitter.com/JZDIdgSN


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@LivinginDoha: @dohanews what is going on at villaggio? Lots of smoke!

pic.twitter.com/hv6I2sKl

@DohaBen: Wow this is crazy. Smoke coming out of Villaggio. @dohanews what is

going on?? pic.twitter.com/T1pC56er


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@FahadBuzwair: 2..


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@katiebakesx: Villagio now. Fire has spread right the way down. #doha #qatar

@dohanews pic.twitter.com/fAyTfddc


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@MohsinAltaf: @dohanews i can even see ashes on alwaab street. #Qatar. Its a major

fire and gate 1 and 2 all under police control. pic.twitter.com/XKAWtCGz


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@Nodi_Qtr: OMG .. That #Villagio now yfrog.com/oefedzej


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@susiebillings: Anyone know what's on fire at Villaggio/ aspire? #doha

pic.twitter.com/theUTfgx

Meanwhile, smoke spread quickly through the malls air vents and along the ceiling,

growing thicker and more toxic after making contact with flammable paint used to evoke

in shoppers minds an idyllic day in an Italian hill town. Directly adjacent to the Nike

storeroom ground zero is a hallway, a security monitoring office and Gympanzee,

where 13 children, a teacher, two assistants and an accountant were spending their

morning.

An expat who was working in the Via Domo luxury section of the mall at the time recalls

not taking the fire seriously when she heard about it.

"We were led to believe that the VIP section was going to be OK. 'It's far enough away,'

people were heard muttering, but what people didn't realize was the fire was raging out

of control. It was now in the roof space, it was in the vents - all areas we mutually

shared. It was starting to drift through to our area, she said, asking to remain

anonymous to protect her job.


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As she and her boss evacuate the mall, she remembers many were still inside,

hovering, lingering, taking photos. She recounts:

Just as we made to leave, local boys had covered their faces with their

scarves and were taking pictures of themselves in the smoke next to

the luxury cars that you could now barely see. The only thing that you

could see was their reversing lights. They were removing the cars from

the building, before us! As we went to leave the building, the cars were

being removed. As we got out to the carpark, the cars were already

waiting at the traffic lights.

Elsewhere in the mall, evacuation efforts were also half-hearted. Alarms could be heard

in some stores, but few shoppers were taking them seriously, until they either saw the

smoke or heard panicked people yelling at everyone to exit quickly.

Got out of Villaggio before fire broke out - was left in changing room at Zara and staff

left without telling me. Came out and store was empty! tweeted Ellora Coupe.

Some witnesses guess the fire is coming from the food court, but other say they saw

actual flames at Nike and the nearby GoSport shop.

Reflecting on the ordeal, the mall employee said:

I live near Villaggio and for hours after I got home the sound of sirens

rang out... I often think, Could I have done something, had I been

made aware of what was happening that day? I guess now I will never

know."


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-SECTION 2

PRECIOUS MINUTES

Inside Gympanzee, minutes slip by and Maribel Orosco, a 29-year-old accountant, calls

her husband, Louie Aban, to tell him about the fire. According to one account, the

nursery staff was told by security that everything was under control. But at this point, 10

minutes past 11am, the smoke in the narrow hallway leading to the daycare is already

too thick and too hot to move the kids.

Orosco calls her husband again, asking him to hurry, to come and help them. But before

he arrives, she calls once more, this time to say goodbye.

She told me she had to let go, Aban testified in court months later, adding that his

wife's breathing sounded labored. I told her, dont.

Amid a worsening situation, Gympanzee employee Julie Ann Soco also calls her

husband in the Philippines. She tells him that she is staying with the children, against

his advice.

Fire officials had already arrived on the scene, some just moments after the first

sightings of smoke. More emergency workers pour in by the minute.

Its 12:05pm, and the Ministry of Interior announces that everythings OK. There are no

serious injuries, but some people are being treated for smoke inhalation, the

government entity tweeted. Traffic in the area is horrendous, due to the incoming

emergency response vehicles, as well as police roadblocks and exiting shoppers. And

the smoke appears to be dissipating.

But appearances can be deceiving, and everything is not OK. On-site, the rescue effort

is chaotic and poorly trained firefighters are battling to put out a blaze with no

emergency lighting, a malfunctioning sprinkler system and no floor plans.


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Outside the mall entrance, as a crowd of shoppers look on, Gympanzee co-owner Iman

Al Kuwari is trying to get Civil Defense to understand: there are children inside! Raghda

Al Kabbani, whose 3-and-a-half-year-old daughter Hana Sharabati is at Gympanzee, is

yelling the same.

A number of frantic relatives are pressing in around the entrances of Villaggio, but none

are allowed in, with the exception of Oroscos husband Aban. He knew the way to

Gympanzee, so firefighters suited him up to go in, but the heat and the smoke force him

to turn back.

It was completely dark, like youre closing your eyes, Aban recalls. I couldnt see

anything. We only reached GoSport. I felt hot and some air like a fan. Very hot.

Video located at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Efpm3p6xwkQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Efpm3p6xwkQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Efpm3p6xwkQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Efpm3p6xwkQ


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Meanwhile, Grace O, mother of two-year-old Zeinah Aouani, was desperately trying to

get people to help find her daughter.

I even told one firefighter, I can give you money, please go check the nursery, she

later explains to an American newspaper.

They just looked at me like a crazy person who doesnt know whats going on, says O,

who initially thought the smoke was due to a small fire. One had taken place during a

visit she had made to the mall earlier that week.

Two hours in, with limited equipment and struggling to access the nurserys location,

rescue workers decide to cut through the roof of the mall to get to Gympanzee.

That entry was from the top of the complex. Time was really critical and the teams took

some time because the maps were not immediately available, Sheikh Abdullah Bin

Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, Minister of State for Interior Affairs, explains at a press

conference that evening.

Firefighters rush in, and start to carry out the trapped inhabitants. And for a moment,

there is a sigh of relief.

Ok they are finally getting the kids out. Oh my god. #villagio, tweets @SyrianBint at

12:56pm.

The Ministry of Interior, meanwhile, sends two tweets:

Firefighters and other security personnel are working to contain the fire

at Villagio. They have already evacuated all persons in the mall.

#VillagioFire Firefighters have reached the main source of fire at

Villagio and surrounded the area with all means to extinguish fire.


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-SECTION 3

TRAGIC TRUTH

Despite the MOIs assurances, rumors and blurry images begin circulating on Twitter

and BlackBerry Messenger, claiming dozens of people have died in the blaze.

Some of the parents standing by see their children coming out of the roof of the mall,

and hope against hope that they will be OK. Paramedics work furiously on children and

firefighters alike.

It would be another five hours before the government officially explains what happened.But some like the mother of 15-month-old Umar Emeran, who watched from the

sidelines as EMTs covered her son with a blue sheet - were already facing the cold

reality wordlessly.

She was joined by her other son, 19-year-old Ibraheem Emeran, who raced to Villaggio

when his best friend called to tell him smoke was coming from the area.

He recalls assuming that the nursery children would be huddled outside, waiting for their

parents to collect them:

Eventually, it became apparent to everyone that the children were still

stuck inside the burning building, and my mother lost it even more.

After what seemed like forever, we got word that they were bringing the

children out. Indeed, the first fireman to come down from that flight of

stairs was carrying my brothers body, his little arms hanging out on his

sides, dangling as they rushed him to the paramedics.

Hossam Chahboune, a Moroccan firefighter, was found by a colleague lying lifeless on

the floor of the nursery holding two children in his arms.

The other (Iranian) firefighter was barely alive when we found him, Abdel Khaleq al-

Huwari tells journalists. We tried to save him, but he died.


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Video located at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1kj6scHfqY

Although the fire never reached the nursery, the thick noxious smoke was enough. No

one trapped there survives the day.

Another firefighter, Amran Mohsen, explains how the children died. Five in the

ambulance, three at the hospital and the rest right at the spot, he says.

Most of the families do not find out right away. Anyone looking for answers about their

loved ones was pointed to Hamad Hospital, where they were left to beg for updates.

At this point, hope is still alive for many. But it ebbs as each family is eventually directed

to the morgue and asked to produce pictures of their loved ones. They are then

instructed to identify the bodies of their children and spouses by looking at pictures of

them on an iPad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1kj6scHfqYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1kj6scHfqYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1kj6scHfqYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1kj6scHfqYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1kj6scHfqY


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All the kids from the nursery were dead, recalls Zeinahs mom. They asked me, Is

this your kid? Is this your kid?

My kid was the last one, she says.

Confirmation - and the death of hope - finally comes when the relatives are taken to the

deceased themselves. Almost all of the bodies have black soot on them, but no other

marks. It looked like she was sleeping, Hanas mother Al Kabbani says.

They gave us the wrong impression that there were children alive, Evanas mother

recalls through tears. They made us feel hopeful for nothing. They shouldve told us

from the start that everyone at the nursery was dead.

Aban says he didnt find out his wife had passed away until 6pm that day:

I gave them a picture of my wife and identifications, the jewelry she

was wearing All information was taken, but no one confirmed to me

that they had found my wife. Some of the parents already knew that

their children were dead, but I was still praying at that time. I didnt lose

hope. Then, they took me to the mortuary to see if they could find my

wife. They pulled out the adults one by one. I identified the three

teachers first. The last one was my wife. I just cried.

The mother of 3-year-old Youssef Chata did not hear that a fire had taken place at

Villaggio until after 6pm. The 32-year-old French national was in Doha visiting her

parents and recovering from giving birth via a caesarean delivery some two weeks

before the tragedy. It wasnt until relatives whisked her to the hospital and a nurse

wordlessly escorted her to the morgue did she learn about her sons fate.

Even before the whole truth is shared with the public, its understood that today is a

national tragedy. Just after 7pm, the Ministry of Interior finally starts to explain things to

the media at a press conference.

Its confirmed: six boys, seven girls and six adults - four female Gympanzee employees

and two male firefighters - have died of smoke inhalation.


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Al Thani, the minister of state, says:

We tried our best, but when we got there, the children were trapped

inside. We are very sorry for what happened. We tried as much as we

could to save these people.

Seventeen more people were treated for smoke inhalation at Hamad Hospital: 15 Civil

Defense officers and two mall security guards. All were released within days of the fire.

The government chooses not to make public the names of those killed, but their

relatives and friends do.

Later that night, Qatars attorney general announces the arrest of some five people

associated with the tragedy, including Villaggio malls owner, the co-owner of

Gympanzee, the mall manager, the assistant manager and the assistant director of

security.

Meanwhile, the country prepares to mourn.


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-SECTION 4

THE VICTIMS

The Names of the Villaggio Fire Victims

Ye Mengling, 3.5 years old, China

Hana Sharabati, 3.5 years old, Canada/Saudi Arabia

Umar Emeran, 15 months old, South Africa

Isabel Vela, 7 years old, Spain

Almudena, 7, Camilo, 5, and Alfonso, 2 years old, Travesedo (siblings),

Spain

Lillie, Jackson and Willsher Weekes (triplets), 2 years old, New Zealand

Zeinah Aouani, 2 years old, United States

Youssef Chata, 3 years old, France/Egypt

Evana Antonios, 2 years old, Egypt/Sudan

Mahmoud Haidar, Iran


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Hossam Chahboune, 22 years old, Morocco

Shameega Charles, 29 years old, South Africa

Maribel Orosco, 29 years old, Philippines

Margie Yecyec, Philippines

Julie Ann Soco, Philippines


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CHAPTER 2

AFTERMATH

On Tuesday, May 29, 2012, Qatar residents awoke with heavy hearts. Nineteen vibrant

lives had left the world, and in a place as small as Doha, everyone was somehow

connected to the tragedy.


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Photo Credit: Omar Chatriwala


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-SECTION 1

THE DAY AFTER

Friends, acquaintances and strangers rushed forth to comfort the grieving.

Mogammad Moeneeb Emeran, father of 15-month-old Umar, recalls his next-door

neighbor opening up his home to receive well wishers, serving them as a host. We

didnt even know him very well, Umars mother, Zareena Solomon, said.

Emeran, who would go to Abu Hamour Cemetery to bury his son on this day, said his

Qatari colleague from Qatar Petroleum jumped in and took care of all the funerallogistics. He even washed Umars body with his own hands, following the Islamic

tradition of preparing a person for burial.

Well-attended funeral prayers were also held there for several of the other Muslim

victims on Tuesday, including Mahmoud Haidar and Hossam Chahboune, the two

firefighters; and 3-and-a-half-year-old Hana Sharabati.

Also on this day, a packed crowd attended a mass that was held at the Catholic church

for the four Spanish victims: Isabel Vela, 7, and siblings Almudena, 7, Camilo, 5, and

Alfonso, 2, Travesedo. Their bodies were later flown home to be buried.

If anyone cries, do it with joy, because they have reached the sky, the mother of the

siblings later said during their funeral in Madrid.

Gallery 2.1 Virgil for the Victims

Hundreds of people from across Qatar gathered at Aspire Park to say goodbye.


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Photo by Omar Chatriwala



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Photo by Gazanfarulla Khan

Photo by Gazanfarulla Khan


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Photo by Brian Candy


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At least three vigils were held on Tuesday, the largest one at Aspire Park. There,

hundreds of residents of all nationalities and all walks of life mourned together, placing

flowers, candles and notes at the base of a pole that read:


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RIP Fallen Heroes, RIP Dead Angels, RIP Respected Teachers, WE

LOVE YOU.

Video is at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjR7y8HFvPA

Red-eyed Jane and Martin Weekes of New Zealand, who lost their two-year-old triplets

Lillie, Jackson and Willsher, attended the vigil, clutching their childrens favorite stuffed

animals.

Also in attendance to offer condolences were high-level Qatari officials, including

Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al-Thani and Hamad Bin Abdulaziz Al Kuwari, Qatars

Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage and father to Gympanzee co-owner Iman Al

Kuwari.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjR7y8HFvPAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjR7y8HFvPAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjR7y8HFvPAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjR7y8HFvPAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjR7y8HFvPA


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The minister said that it was a day of sorrow for everyone - Qataris and expats alike,

adding that the fact that a diverse segment of the community attended the vigil should

be noted.

He said:

It proves we like each other, we love each other.

Meanwhile, cleanup began in earnest at Villaggio Mall, much to the dismay of some

residents, who wondered how a proper investigation would be conducted. The mall

would remain closed for the next three-and-a-half months.

In addition to grief, fear also hung in the air that day, as residents jumped at reports of

minor fires around town, including at the Qatar Aeronautical College, in a shopping

complex in Mansoura, and at the Fatima bent Waleed bin Al Muqeera Primary School

for girls, where some students fainted from the commotion.

The skittishness would continue for months to come, but unfortunately, so would the

fires, which are an everyday occurrence in Qatar. Three other fire-related deaths also

took place in 2012, according to Ministry of Interior figures.


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-SECTION 2

LATERON

After a day of mourning, during which residents focused on saying goodbye, on

comforting one another and on trying to make sense of it all, the calls for accountability

began.

Saleh al-Kawari, editor-in-chief of Al-Raya, said in an editorial: It is negligence that

resembles a premeditated murder. This is a real catastrophe.

Ajit Kumar Jha, then-editor at the Qatar Tribune, wrote:

Imagine, these could have been your kids, our kids, whom we take

with us to school, for shopping, for a movie, for ice-skating to Villaggio.

The tragedy must make us raise certain questions: how safe are our

kids in Doha? How secure are fire hydrants and the sprinklers all over

the city, in schools, in malls, in public buildings like cinema halls?

Print media, which was unusually vocal during this time period (but would later fall silent

on the issue), also criticized television and radio stations for not covering the tragedy in

real-time.

Qatar TVs managing director hit back by saying the fire should not have been treated

as a spectacle: What happened is not a football match to be aired on TV.

Meanwhile, Qatars Heir Apparent, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, began visiting

the grieving families, offering condolences and promising justice.

His Highness, the Crown Prince was very compassionate and supportive, said Abd

Elmasseih Antonios Mina Eskandar, father of Evana. He promised us that no matter

who was responsible for this tragedy, they will be held accountable. He told us that no

one was above the law and that justice would be served.


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In the days following the fire, Gympanzee also went on the offensive after it emerged

that it was registered as a mall play area rather than a nursery. That issue would later

be argued over by defense lawyers and the prosecuting attorney for hours in court.

Also in June, a committee organized to investigate the cause of the Villaggio fire

determined that the ordeal was a perfect storm of negligence and lack of preparedness

on all sides. The full report has not been released one year on, but highlights of it were

published by the states Qatar News Agency.

Among them: the committee found a lack of adherence to required laws, systems, and

measure by all concerned parties to different degree(s). This includes adherence to

design, license, and safety conditions, which contributed to (the) Villagio catastrophe.

The technical report also debunked rumors that the fire was caused by Syrians loyal to

embattled President Bashar Al Assad, saying it was clearly not a premeditated act.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Social Affairs took the tragedy as a wake-up call, sending

memos to all nursery owners that it would be auditing their creches to ensure they

complied with government requirements.

It stated:

Upper floors in nurseries are to be converted for administration

purposes only, within three months from June 1, 2012. In the event that

the requirements are not met as announced, the necessary legal

measures will be taken with regard to the non-compliant nurseries.

By September, most nurseries had complied, though many complained about a

shortage of space and said they found the directive to be arbitrary and unnecessary.

Nursery owners were also told they would receive further instructions about new stricter

health, hygiene, safety and academic requirements, but they have yet to introduced.

With summer in full force and Villaggio closed last year, residents turned to Qatars

other malls for entertainment. However, in mid-June, two weeks after the fire, Civil

Defense closed City Center, Qatars largest mall, for safety violations. It also warned the


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nations private and public companies, hotels, apartment buildings and restaurants to

shore up their fire prevention and safety measures - or face immediate closure.

Institutions found to be in violation of code in terms of their alarm, ventilation and fire

devices, emergency exits and training of personnel could be closed for up to 30 days,

officials said.

City Center told shoppers it would be closed for the day, and then the weekend. But it

took the mall nearly a month to get approvals. When it reopened, many of the kiosks

crowding mall hallways had been removed. Six new emergency exits were added to the

mall, and aisleways within stores like Carrefour and Home Centre were reportedly

widened.

Despite rumors, Landmark Mall remained open, though its cinema was temporarily

closed for safety violations.

In August, media reports suggested that Villaggio mall would reopen in time for Eid. In

response to the news, the parents of the 13 children killed in the fire issued a joint

statement calling for a boycott of the facility.

Citing an absence of information about safety reforms made to the mall, no offer of

financial compensation from its owners and no government updates on the fire

investigation, the parents called the potential opening outrageous, hurtful and

indefensible.

The letter read:

The owners and operators of Villaggio should not be allowed to go

back to business as usual without having addressed the needs and

concerns of the families they devastated. This is the equivalent of

sweeping a crime under the rug and we wont stand for it.

The mall, ultimately, did not receive approval from Civil Defense to reopen by Eid.


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-SECTION 3

THE TRIAL

Weeks later, on Sept. 6, the trial to determine criminal responsibility for the fire deaths

commenced. However, the hearing was postponed after some of the defendants failed

to turn up in court.

Shortly thereafter, on Sept. 20, Villaggio mall did reopen to the public, but offered no

information about what changes were made to the facility to make it a safer place.

Qatar received the news with an ambivalence that continues to this day. As peoplebegan heading back to the mall, Jane Weekes expressed her pain to Doha News:

One of the hardest things about losing a child or children is how

quickly the world seems to return to normal whilst ours remains

shattered. This will equally be the case for the families of the 4 teachers

and 2 firefighters who perished, who are not only someones child but

also leave behind children of their own.

In the months to follow, the court proceedings would be postponed three more times

because of the absence of Gympanzee co-owner Iman Al Kuwari, who had moved to

Belgium with her family after the fire, as her husband Sheikh Ali Bin Jassim Al Thani

began his post as Qatars ambassador there.

The months of postponement caused much consternation for those who had lost loved

ones, and were anxious for resolution. Many Qatar residents also expressed concern at

the delays, which they said called into question the effectiveness of the countrys legal

system.

But the issue appears to be much bigger than this one case. A report issued around this

time found that Qatars courts are severely backlogged. In 2011, one-fifth of the 86,980

cases filed in Qatars courts were not resolved, an increase of 5.4 percent from 2010.


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The report attributed the delays to an archaic system that has not been updated since

1990, when the countrys population consisted of half a million people; but also to the

court procedures that allow for lawyers to employ stalling tactics, including in the

Villaggio fire case.

Meanwhile, in November of last year, the Emir made one of his first public

acknowledgments of the fire. At the opening of the 41st session of the Advisory Council,

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani said:

Lessons must be learned from the mistakes, such as what happened

earlier this year in the Villaggio Mall, since human errors and accidents

cannot be prevented, but necessary precautions and preventive

measures could be taken to avoid them or at least mitigate the damage

caused by unavoidable occurrences.

As the trial inched along, it emerged that Hamad Medical Corp. was being investigated

by a worldwide healthcare accrediting body following a complaint filed by Jane and

Martin Weekes, the parents of the two-year-old triplets who died in the fire. The

complaint included a number of alleged failings that Jane Weekes said prompted the

couple to feel let down in what was the worst time of our lives.

Among the grievances:

Despite reassurances, the triplets were not embalmed properly, meaning their

bodies had deteriorated by the time they arrived home in New Zealand;

Lillie was still being treated when she reached the hospital and her parents

were not told she had died until they were asked to identify her in the morgue;

and

Non-nursing staff assigned to stay with the families were unable to offer any

practical help, only providing empty reassurances.

Meanwhile, testimony heard during the fire case showed that the government had been

fining Villaggio mall repeatedly since 2008 for using a highly toxic, flammable paint in its


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mall decorations. According to one Civil Defense officer, the paint, once ignited, caused

the fire and smoke to spread quickly. Sprinklers would have stopped the smoke, but

they didnt appear to be functioning.

Additionally, Villaggio officials did not respond to requests from the fire alarm and

sprinkler system companies to perform much-needed maintenance on the mall

equipment, as recently as the week of the fire. Officials also testified that firefighters

were not properly trained to handle the fire.

At later hearings, the focus turned to Gympanzee and whether it violated the terms of its

commercial license. Documentation shows that Gympanzee was licensed by the

Ministry of Business and Trade for six business activities, including as a playroom for

children.

But parents of children killed in the fire testified that the business operated as a

daycare. To the panel of judges, they presented receipts, monthly contracts and photos

of signage and literature of Gympanzee referring to itself as a nursery.

The distinction is important, parents told Doha News, because if it was a properly

licensed nursery, Civil Defense officials would have been aware that there were children

inside of Villaggio and worked to get them out quickly. Previously, firefighters said they

did not initially know that the mall had a nursery or that children were trapped inside.

Other parents of children who have attended the center, but were not there the day of

the fire, testified that it was not a nursery, saying no teaching took place there.

Also at issue was whether the center was equipped for a fire emergency. A former

employee who testified confirmed that Gympanzee had a second exit, but that it would

have led inhabitants right into the mall where the fire was. She also stated that thenursery had no windows or ventilation.

In February, a judge on the case effectively placed a gag order on the trial, asking Doha

Newsto request a letter formally seeking permission to cover it, and then denying that


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permission. After this, we began reporting what those who attended the hearings had

heard and seen.

The court convened for the 14th time on April 4, 2013, finally hearing closing arguments

from the prosecution and defendants lawyers.

There, the prosecutor made an impassioned plea that all seven defendants be found

guilty of involuntary manslaughter. He pointed out that, given the size and popularity of

Villaggio, the number of victims could easily have been multiplied, and that power and

money should not absolve culpability in this case.

The defendants lawyers argued, among other things, that there is no direct causality

that links any deeds acted out by their clients as the direct and sole cause of the deathof any of the victims. For example, not obtaining the proper permits in itself did not

result in death.

They also took issue with the conditions under which the defendants were arrested and

detained, especially the ambassador and Villaggio chairman, who were held in

conditions that did not match their status. The men had been handcuffed and not told

of their right to remain silent. Additionally, the testimony taken from the Villaggio

employees was delivered under harsh conditions and thus should be dismissed.

The lawyers also asked why the owner of Nike, where the fire began and where the

sprinkler system was reportedly shut off, were not called into court. One lawyer

proposed that the toxicity in the smoke came from the burnt Nike products, and not the

paint on Villaggios walls - though the mall had been repeatedly fined since 2008 over

the paint.

Finally, the lawyer for the Business and Trade Ministry official said it is not uncommonprocedure, as was pointed out during prior witness testimony, for many permit renewals

to be signed based on accumulated knowledge gathered from regular and frequent

visits.


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The lawyer retained by the victims families also spoke, asserting that the only way to

ensure that such crimes of negligence are not committed again is for the material

compensation to be painfully exorbitant.

Thus, he asked the court to order all seven defendants, their respective insurance

companies and the Ministry of Business and Trade to collectively pay:

The standard $55,000 (QR200,000) in blood-money for each deceased

individual who died of involuntary manslaughter;

A $13.7 million (QR50 million) payout for material and emotional damages

experienced by each inheritor of the victim; and

A $15.1 million (QR55 million) payout per inheritor as compensation for the

pain and suffering experienced by the deceased.

A verdict is expected on June 20.

The Villaggio Fire Trial Defendants

Sheikh Ali Bin Jassim Al Thani, Qatars Ambassador to Belgium, is the owner of

Gympanzee and confirmed that he supervised the obtaining of all the necessary permits

for his business, which the technical report said operated as an unlicensed nursery;

Iman Al-Kuwari, daughter of Qatars culture minister, was the manager of Gympanzee

and she affirmed that she had obtained all the necessary permits, including the approval

of Civil Defense, to run her business. But whether she was violating the terms of her

commercial license was up for debate;

Abdul Aziz Mohammed Al-Rabban, Villaggios chairman, told the prosecution that he

used to conduct weekly visits to the mall to ensure that safety regulations were met and

to verify that all the shops engaged in the same activities they were leased out and

licensed to engage in. He also stated that his agreement with Iman al-Kuwari was that

she would lease out a space in Villaggio to turn into a nursery and that he himself


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authorized that contract, making sure later that indeed the space was used as a

nursery;

Tzoulios Tzouliou, the manager of Villaggio, said that the safety regulations there were

not adequate and that there werent any special precautions made for Gympanzee in

respect to it being a business that catered to children.

Rima Itani, the malls assistant manager, said that had anyone immediately gone to the

nursery to evacuate it as soon as the fire broke out, the children could have been

saved. She further admitted that she did not issue direct orders to the staff to go to

Gympanzee to evacuate it as soon as she learned of the fire.

Ahmad Muhammad Abdul Rahman, the malls head of security, said he had been anemployee of Villaggio for six years, but in that time only received emergency training for

fire-combatting and evacuation during two one-hour sessions. He said that the

sprinklers were not working and admitted that he did not issue any direct orders to his

staff to evacuate the mall in general and Gympanzee in particular; and

Mansour Nasir Fazzaa al-Shahwani, from the Ministry of Business and Trade, said he

was the one responsible for Gympanzees commercial permit as a play area and that he

had not conducted a special inspection in order to renew the license. This contradicts

what he had written in the permit-renewal document, where it is recorded that he had

conducted that special inspection, verifying that Gympanzee was engaging in the same

activity that it had been licensed for.


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CHAPTER 3

GRIEVING FAMILIES

One year on, we do not appear to have moved that far beyond a mall tragedy that

shattered our naive belief in public safety. For the suffering relatives of the deceased,

closure remains a long way off.


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Photo Credit: American School of Doha


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-SECTION 1

OPEN WOUNDS

It still hurts. If there is one thing that all of Qatar can agree on about the Villaggio fire, it

is that.

Of course, the hardest hit are the relatives of the 13 children, four Gympanzee

employees and two firefighters who were killed in the fire.

You don't recognize yourself, the mother of 3-year-old Youssef Chata said about

surviving the loss of her son. You feel you're 70 or 80 (years old) because of all thatyou've seen.

Several things make it hard to move on. First, there is the horror of the day itself.

Relatives recount hearing about the fire from phone calls and Facebook messages and

tweeted photos of smoke. They remember feeling a growing sense of dread as they

waited outside of Villaggio for familiar faces to emerge, and then pacing the hallways of

Hamad Hospital, anticipating answers. And then, they remember experiencing the

crushing grief that knowledge brings.

Umar Emeran, a 15-month-old South African and the fires youngest victim, died on his

fifth day at Gympanzee.

Unlike many of the parents who learned of their childrens deaths at Hamad, Umars

mother, Zareena Solomon, saw him being carried out of the mall and watched

paramedics unsuccessfully try to revive him before covering his body in defeat.

There was no urgency for the couple on the way to HMC, like the other parents, but

when doctors accidentally showed them the corpse of the wrong child, Umars father

said he had one insane moment of hope, that perhaps his own son still belonged to this

world.


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They buried Umar the next day. Photos show Mogammad Moeneeb Emeran carrying

his sons shrouded body at the funeral procession, flanked by weeping Civil Defense

officers.

"That was so painful," the 45-year old teacher said. "In the morning he was alive - and

then all of a sudden, he was lifeless."

Hana Sharabati, a 3-and-a-half-year-old Canadian/Saudi girl, was also buried the day

after she died. "I used to feel my heart burning," her mother, Raghda Al Kabbani, 37,

said.

Emeran, however, said, "I felt like I didn't have a heart at all. It had been removed from

my body."

Louie Aban thought that if he drove fast enough, he could get to Villaggio in time to save

his wife, 29-year-old Maribel Orosco, who worked as an accountant at Gympanzee.

But the 32-year-old Filipino didnt make it in time.

When Aban arrived at Villaggio, police barred him from going into the mall. Iman Al

Kuwari, Gympanzees co-owner, and Oroscos brother both also tried, but were not

allowed to go inside.

Aban said he told officers that his wife and several children were trapped inside, but

they kept saying no problem. Nearly two hours later, unable to locate Gympanzee,

firefighters suited up Aban so that he could show them the way. But the air was too hot

and the smoke too thick to make it inside the nursery. Instead, officers began taking the

victims out through the roof, and Aban later found his wife in the hospital mortuary.

The worse thing is my wife thought I could save her, he said. But I didnt. Im alwaysasking for forgiveness for that. She knew, every problem I could fix. This one I couldnt.

Youssefs mother, who asked to be identified by her initials NG, did not experience the

stress of wondering what had happened to her son because she had not heard about


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the fire all day. She said she only started to worry about him after 4pm, when her father

did not bring him home from Gympanzee as usual.

I thought maybe they went shopping, said NG, who had come for a visit to Doha

nearly a month earlier and was staying at her parents home while recovering from the

delivery of her second child. She had just been released from the hospital on May 14.

At 6pm, her father and brothers came home and told her to come along, because there

was a fire at Villaggio. They looked terrible and tired. Wheres Youssef, NG asked,

worried. Just come with us, came the reply.

NG quickly threw an abaya over her pajamas, packed up her two-week-old daughter

and rushed out the door. At the hospital, she saw her mother sitting with the FrenchCounsel and other members of the French Embassy.

I will never forget my mother's face had the most horrible expression, and she was not

answering me, NG recalled.

Despite repeated questions, nobody would tell her what happened. It was the worst few

minutes of my life, she said. Then, one nurse snapped at her: You reallywant to see

him?

Everybody was under the greatest shock and grief, Youssef's mother said, continuing:

"I still hear the cries of adults in my ears and realized that a lot of

parents were also in the hospital. While following the nurse, I all of a

sudden found myself in the morgue...Nobody said anything before I

saw him... The shock was overwhelming. I did not yell or scream - my

tears poured out of my eyes heavily and washed my face... (and) I just

kept saying Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un (Surely we belong to God

and to Him we return).

Youssefs mom would return to the morgue a number of times that night, to see her son

and try to accept her new reality. He was sleeping like a little angel - no flame came

near him, she said. He was just perfect, just sleeping.


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Gallery 3.1 Photos from Family and Friends

Evana Antonios


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Hana Sharabati

Isabel Vela


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Ye Mengling


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Umar Emeran


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Lillie, Jackson and Willsher Weekes


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Maribel Orosco with her husband Louie and son Liam

Shameega Charles


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Mahmoud Haidar

Hossam Chahboune


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Julie Ann Soco with Evana Antonios


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Youssef Chata


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Zeinah Aouani

The morgue is also where Abd Elmasseih Antonios Mina Eskandar and Manal Murgus

finally came to know that their only child, 18-month-old Evana Antonios, was gone.

The couple recalled that Evana had remnants of soot on her face from the dense

smoke. The hospital had already taken her out of her clothes and covered her with asheet. Her father turned her body over to make sure there were no injuries. Then they

kissed her goodbye and prayed for her. They also turned to the priest of the Coptic

Church in Qatar, who came to the hospital that night, for spiritual guidance.


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Jane and Martin Weekes were yet another couple who spent long, agonizing hours at

the hospital, waiting for answers about their two-year-old triplets. In a letter recounting

their experience the day of the fire, Jane Weekes writes about finding out that two of her

children, Lillie and Jackson, had not survived. Willsher, however, was missing. She

continues:

...I prayed that he had hidden somewhere and might be OK, and was

being treated in emergency. After another hour or more my husband

was again taken to identify one last little child. We had described him

as a little red-haired boy with big beautiful blue eyes This child had

hair darkened by soot and the hospital staff still said it was a girl. It was

Willsher, our little boy. All my babies were dead.

Camilo and Elena Travesedo also lost three children: Alfonso, Camilo and Almudena,

aged 2, 5 and 7. Their friends, Yolanda Mascaraque and Santiago Vela, had to say

goodbye to their only child, Isabel, 7.


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-SECTION 2

BEREFT AT HOME

If there is anything more painful than coming face-to-face with a departed loved one,

burying that person and returning home without them rank high on the list.

Maryam Charles flew to Qatar after losing a hero, her daughter Shameega Charles, a

South African teacher whose body was retrieved from the office of Gympanzee. Umar

and Evana, the two youngest daycare attendees, were found hidden inside her shirt.

She was trying to protect them from the smoke.

Charles, who had turned 29 three days before her death, had spent the weekend on the

phone and on Skype with her family, including her five-year-old son, who lived in South

Africa with his grandmother.

Maryam Charles said when arrived to Doha on the Friday after the fire, she was taken

to her daughters grave, but could not get herself to leave the car and face Shameega.

Instead, she went back to her hotel room and cried. She continues:

The following day I returned to her grave and scraped all the courage

together to stand beside her. It was 10am and extremely hot. I did not

care about the heat - I wanted to see my child and I remember sitting

down and starting to scrape at the stones, wanting to see her face just

to make sure that no mistake has been made with her identity. All I

remember then was her dad and nephew taking me back to the

vehicle, she said.

Next came the difficult task of packing up her daughters apartment, Charles said:

Everything she owned was unfamiliar to me - it felt like I was entering

the apartment of a complete stranger. When I saw her sons pictures on

the nightstand, I knew I was in the right place. Overcome by emotion, I


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could not touch anything and was taken outside by (one of Shameegas

friends).

Solomon, 40, also had a difficult time with her late sons belongings. She still cannot

bear to look at a pair of Umars Crocs that remain in the downstairs shoe cabinet. Herchildren have to warn her to look away before opening the cabinet, she said. She also

cannot handle seeing pictures of Umar. She accidentally glimpsed one on a cell phone

recently and froze for 15 minutes, her husband said.

That kind of grief has taken its toll on the Emeran family, who said they are working to

take their loss one day at a time. That, apparently, is progress after the strife the

tragedy initially caused.

"The first four months were hell," Emeran said. After the fire, he and his wife spent a

great deal of time mired in the blame game, the what-if game, and every other method

of mental torture grieving parents put themselves through.

But at some point, Emeran said he had to pull it together and lead his family of six

through the storm. Solomon said she could only began moving forward after realizing

that there was nothing anyone could have done to save her son. "I believe in Allah. I

believe it was his time to go," she said. "But then there's also the negligence..."


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-SECTION 3

WAITING FORJUSTICE

Thats another thing that makes it so hard for the families left behind to find closure - a

lack of justice. Despite all the promises made to them after the fire, including from the

Heir Apparent himself, accountability has yet to be assigned.

Antonios recalled his visit with Qatars Deputy Emir, and his promise to hold those

responsible accountable for what happened, regardless of the politics.

If it werent for the death of our loved ones, the issue of fire protection and safetymeasures in Qatar would not have been brought to the forefront of the governments

attention, Antonios said. Due to the sacrifice of our children, it has become a matter of

importance. Their death helped fix fire protection measures in Qatar.

Twelve months and 14 court hearings later, Qatars courts have yet to determine who, if

anyone, will be held criminally responsible for the 19 deaths caused by the fire.

A judge is expected to issue a decision next month, but its hard to hope that justice will

be served, Antonios said:

We understand that even when the verdict is announced, it will only be

a preliminary verdict. There is still room for an appeal and other steps

in the legal process. This can take years. For Qataris, this is not an

issue, as they are citizens of this country. As for us, our lives here are

not permanent. What if we leave our jobs and have to go home? We

might leave Qatar without knowing the destiny of this trial.

Some families have already left Qatar, unable to deal with the memories of their loved

ones around every corner in Doha, or craving the strong support networks they have

waiting for them at home. Four-year-old Ye Menglings parents moved to China almost

immediately after the tragedy, and have had minimal contact with those in Qatar since.


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Others cant bear to leave.

Doha is home, said Solomon, who has lived here for 11 years.

Murgus echoes a similar sentiment:

For us, Evana was born here. She lived her short life here. This is

where we feel connected to her. If we leave Qatar, then all of our

memories of the places we took her to, the things that she liked will die.

The people who left could not deal with these painful memories.

Then there are the people who will be waiting forever, like the son of Shameega

Charles.

According to Maryam Charles, her grandson is in his tenth month of therapy, but has

made little progress. He constantly speaks of Shameega as if she is still alive, and often

asks when she is coming home, which gifts she will buy for his birthday, and then later,

why did God take his mother. She said:

I explain to him that his mommy is with Allah, but the reality has not

sunk in yet. He appears to block out reality according to the

psychologist. When he says his prayers at night, he says a special

prayer for her, the sadness in his voice is unbearable when it becomes

a mere crackling whisper. If I was granted one wish it would be to heal

his broken heart. He becomes very sad when he sees other children

with their mums.

Aban, husband of Gympanzee employee Maribel Osco, says that their son Liam, now

21 months, doesnt remember his mother. Hes always mentioning Mummy, but really,

he doesnt know what his Mummy looks like, he said.

Up until recently, Aban had hired a nanny to look after Liam, while he worked full-time in

the Industrial Area. But hes just made a life-changing decision. Aban, who went to the

Philippines, where his wife is buried, to mark the anniversary of her death, said he will

return to Doha without his son.


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I cant do it anymore, he said. I cant work properly, worrying about my son all the

time. So Ive decided to leave him in the Philippines, to be looked after by his

grandmother, my mother-in-law. Not forever, though only until the trial is finished. I

know that this will take time, even after the verdict, because I know they will appeal, and

theres the Supreme Court after that, so it will take time. But when its finished, I will go

back to the Philippines for good, and look after my son there.

There are more traumatized children, including the siblings of the deceased.

Seventeen-year-old Nuhaa Emeran, sister of Umar, said:

Before, I was too afraid to even mention his name and talk about him

because when I heard my thoughts in words, it just rewound back to

that day and played like a movie. My head was filled with the memories

we made and it was so sad because to us, he's the best thing that's

ever happened to us.

Her 19-year-old brother Ibraheem added: We got back to our house, but it wasnt the

same. How could it be the same? Not after its heart and soul was now under the

ground.


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-SECTION 4

TOO QUIET

There are a lot of things relatives say they will miss about their departed loved ones.

Maryam Charles always thinks about her daughters laugh, and the last time she heard

it, while Skyping with Shameega a few days before the fire.

She always had an amazing sense of humor, but her laughter that particular night was

nothing I have ever witnessed before, she said. The manner in which she laughed and

threw herself back onto her bed, will always be embedded in my mind.

Evanas father will miss going fishing on the Corniche, which he learned how to do just

so that his daughter would have a fresh, healthy meal to eat.

His wife thinks about all the things the couple will miss out on in the future, like

conversing with their daughter.

As a social child who didnt like to dine alone, Evana would call out to the other children

when she sat down to eat at Gympanzee.

Murgus said:

She started saying her name at the nursery, calling herself anana,

But her father and I never heard it at home. My daughter died before I

could even hear her say her own name.

Hanas mom also misses the chatter. She described her daughter as a lively girl who

could carry on a conversation with anyone and anything - even the contents of the

refrigerator. "She used to talk to all the items in the house."

Al Kabbani still cant make meatballs, her daughters favorite food. And she has no

plans to ever visit her daughter's grave. "I can't think she's there."


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For the Emerans, the loss of Umar caused an unbearable quiet to settle over their

home.

He took up all of our time, his dad remembered. All of a sudden, you have an infinite

amount of time.

It was so quiet, his wife added.

The silence from the government has also been difficult to take. Rubbing salt in the

wounds, said Emeran, is the fact that his friends think the families of the deceased have

been paid off.

Many people think weve been compensated, but there hasnt even been any

communication, Umars dad said.

Speaking to New Zealand media, Janes Weekes said, We lost our children - were not

just whining about some general inconvenience. The silence is insulting to the memory

of our children.

A new arrival to the Emeran home, however, has helped to heal the cracks in their

family. Two months ago, Solomon gave birth to Maryam. Throughout her pregnancy,

Solomon recalled being worried that she would not have a connection to the child.

Solomon said:

I wanted Maryam to be a boy - I remember when I found out I was

pregnant, I had kept Umar's cloths for a little boy that I wished would

look just like him. I prayed for that. The day the (doctor) told me it was a

girl, I was surprisingly relieved. Now Maryam is with us, filling our days

which were for a year dull with an awkward quietness that was alwaystaken up by my beloved Umar. She hasn't changed anything about the

way I feel about Umar, but she has come with her own blessings and

love. She has filled me with a love I thought I could never have again.


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At least two other couples who lost their children are growing their families again. Jane

and Martin Weekes are expecting twins this summer.

The prospect is scary, Jane told news media, adding that the couple hopes moving

forward in this way will help them to close the unfathomable gap left by the death of

Lillie, Jackson and Willsher.

Camilo and Elena Travesedo, the Spanish family who lost three children in the fire, are

also expecting.

Evanas parents are trying again, but Murgus said its just not happening. According to

her doctor, there are no physical barriers preventing her from getting pregnant again,

but her emotional state could be affecting the outcome.

Whatever happens, the relatives of all the loved ones say they will carry their memories

in their hearts forever.

To call them special would do them an injustice, to say that we miss them would be an

understatement, but to say that theyre the ones always on our minds would be nothing

less than the truth, Ibraheem Emraan said.


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CHAPTER 4

A COUNTRYOF FIRES

Fire and building safety have been on the minds of many this past year. Coupled with

the grief and shock of the Villaggio fire is a desire for Qatar to learn from the past, and

to keep such a disaster from ever happening again.


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Photo Credit: Omar Chatriwala


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-SECTION 1

UNCLEARSTANDARDS

There is no doubt that Qatar has worked to make the country a safer place this past

year, but experts say efforts have fallen short, in part due to inexperience, a lack of a

developed safety culture and a bottom-line mindset.

Law will always remain law. But what good is it when society does not take it

seriously? Hussain Aman Al-Ali, assistant director of the Preventative Department of

Civil Defense, recently told news media.

Over the past 12 months, the Ministry of Interiors Civil Defense department has

stepped up safety checks, ordered the closure of businesses deemed unsafe without

warning and worked to shore up the implementation of fire safety procedures, for

example by supervising fire drills in shopping malls.

Still, the cause of the vast majority of fires in Qatar has gone undetermined for at least

the past four years, according to Qatar Statistics Authority figures. This could be in part

because there are not enough qualified people to make the necessary determinations.We do know, though, that the main cause of the small percentage of fires that could be

determined were electrical short-circuits, as was the case with Villaggio.

Most fires happened during the hot summer months, with 124 cases reported in May of

2011 and well over 100 in June and July. In 2010, May also logged the most fires, at 97.

In 2012, 78 out of the 1,192 reported fires in Qatar occurred in malls, service areas and

shops.

Mall safety

One such fire took place at City Center Mall, at the McDonalds in its main food court,

which has been shuttered for renovations ever since.


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Olaf Kindt, director of that mall, said that prior to the Villaggio fire, we probably hadnt

seen (Civil Defense) for a couple of years they hadnt been here for any kind of

inspection or drill. But now, its getting much more activeand were very glad, because

in the end we are not fire experts, nor are we experts of the law of Qatar, so of course

we need the support of the Qatari Civil Defense.

A retail manager at Villaggio Mall also said that before the fire, Civil Defense officials

werent very visible, but now they frequent the mall every two or three days.

Despite this flurry of activity, there is still a great deal of confusion surrounding what the

safety standards in Qatar actually are, and whether they are being enforced reliably and

consistently.

According to Qatari law, fire strategies for new buildings must be addressed as early as

the design stage, and are required to be based on either UK or US building standards.

This would include elements such as the alarm and sprinkler systems, the location of

fire exits and fire-proofing of the structure. Civil Defense must sign off on this strategy

before construction can begin.

However, even if the plans are approved, they are not always implemented or

maintained, said Nathan Goddard, a health and safety engineer who has been working

in Qatar for 15 years. He said:

Its a general problem, not just in Qatar, but across the Gulf some

companies will do it and some companies say theyre going to do it, but

when you look into it deeply you find things like fire alarms not working

properly and fire exits locked. Sometime its because of the cost and

sometimes its just the people they employ who are not competent

enough to be doing it. Thats the bottom line.

When it comes to the ongoing maintenance of fire systems, it is still not clear exactly

what set of standards Civil Defense is following, and whether its increased level of

activity in the last year is because of the introduction of new rules or simply a renewed

enforcement of the old ones.


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Civil Defense did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Kindt said he was surprised when City Center mall was ordered to close for three weeks

last year, shortly after the Villaggio fire.

I guess the reason was they wanted to make sure everything was under law and order,

and as they were not focusing on this so much before, it was unclear, he said.

He explained that changes made during the closure included a thorough check of the

malls alarm and sprinkler systems, amplifying emergency exit signage, increasing the

numbers of security guards from 39 to 55, and updating software so that when a fire

alarm goes off, all the escalators stop automatically.

In addition, the mall is in the process of upgrading its alarm system to include

announcements telling people to leave through the nearest exit, installing flashing lights

for people who cannot hear well and setting up a direct link to Civil Defense so that it

becomes aware of an alarm the moment it is activated.

We are really serious on working to provide a secure environment, Kindt said, adding

that sometimes this is made harder by confusing instructions from Civil Defense. For

example, during City Centers closure, officials were unable to tell him whether some

fire exit doors needed replacing entirely or just repairing. He continued:

The rules and regulations are changing. We do the best we can from

our side to observe the regulations, but there are items that are a bit

difficult. Sometimes we dont know 100 percent (what were supposed

to do) and we dont get a clear answer from Civil Defense, maybe

because they are also in between, they are also developing.

Other malls also upgraded their procedures this year. At Hyatt Plaza, officials said they

immediately revised their fire protocols after what happened at Villaggio, hiring fire

wardens to work each shift; making evacuation plans visible throughout the mall; linking

their fire alarm system directly to Civil Defense; and installing a sprinkler system that


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includes devices in between the ceiling and the floor above. They are also working to

replace substandard electrical components inside the mall.

And Ezdan Mall, which opened in Gharafa in April after a six-month delay, said progress

was pushed back after the Villaggio fire so that the complex would be better prepared

for emergencies. For example, Ezdan has added several emergency exits, installed

glass panes in the ceiling to improve lighting even if the electricity shuts off, and is

training stores sales representatives and janitors in evacuation procedures.


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A LONG ROAD

A leading Qatari fire engineer at a large government-run company suggests that Civil

Defense is an organization in flux. The health and safety expert, who asked not be

named to preserve job security, said there have been big changes in the last year and

that while the government branch is working hard to raise standards, it remains a very

long way from where it needs to be.

The capability of Civil Defense is very small compared with the growing infrastructure,

the engineer said. Their capability is created for 10 years back. They have to know

there is a boom in infrastructure and they need to meet this. They are improving but

they need to do more.

One of the main problems, he added, is a shortage of qualified people within the

organization:

They have a few experts, but is it enough to control the country? No.

There has to be more co-operation, more understanding. If they have

any doubt about the standards, they have to find the experts.

Another international safety expert working at a new mall in Doha has a similar view,

saying that the Civil Defense officers he comes into contact with are of very mixed

quality. Some are qualified and competent, some are not. In general, they lack

experience, he said, also requesting not to be named because he is not authorized to

speak for the mall.

Aware that there is room for improvement, the Ministry of Interior has sent a group of

some dozen recruits to the UK every year for the last five years to participate in a

bespoke training program at the Fire Service College in Gloucestershire.


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The recruits spend the first year learning English, followed by a two-year, in-depth

program that covers operational management, including fighting fires and taking

command at fire incidents, as well as fire protection and prevention. If they pass the

course, the recruits become Civil Defense officers on their return to Qatar. So far,

around 20 have completed the course, and 28 are currently in the UK at different stages

of their studies.

Paul Hinken, an instructor at the Fire Service College and the international program

development coordinator, said the Qatari recruits do about 40 separate courses over

their two years, more than many UK fire officers will do in their entire careers. They are

undertaking a very difficult process. Not everybody passes, so its a credit to the ones

that do get through the whole process here and graduate as officers, he said.

Even if the numbers going through the program are relatively small, the UK program

demonstrates a commitment by Civil Defense to improve the levels of expertise within

its ranks.

But ensuring Qatar residents stay safe will take more than Civil Defense, experts said,

adding that a profound cultural shift is needed so that all stakeholders here understand

and prioritize health and safety.

The safety culture in our country does not have the necessary preparedness. There is

a lack of awareness and education in safety issues. For example, the recent earthquake

we didnt think it would happen here, and we are not prepared for that scenario, the

Qatari engineer said.

An appreciation for proper standards is particularly important when it comes to the

maintenance and safety of older buildings, where the level is largely contingent on the

personal commitment of the building owner.

According to Goddard, the health and safety engineer, it is the owners responsibility to

ensure that a contractor hired to check the buildings fire systems is competent to do the

job.


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And if a fault is identified, it is again up to the owner to ensure it gets fixed properly. The

problem with this, the engineer said, is that you get what you pay forand theyre not

always willing to throw money at the stuff they really need.

In Qatar, private contractors are typically hired to test alarm and sprinkler systems and

check fire extinguishers. They then sign the paperwork that Civil Defense can demand

to see in routine or unannounced checks.

But just because the paperwork is in order and the boxes are ticked, doesnt necessarily

mean you can trust that the systems are safe, said the safety expert at a new mall here.

However, according to the Qatari engineer, the shock of the Villaggio fire has

accelerated a shift in mindset. He said:

The people at the top suddenly realized this is a priority, this is

peoples lives. The mentality is changing, and we (the safety

professionals) are getting more support.

City Center manager Kindt said he sees this shift in shop tenants new willingness to co-

operate with fire drills during trading hours a move that often puts a dent in revenue.

And Goddard also suggested that the Villaggio fire has prompted people to step up theirgame on matters of fire safety. But, he said, the country still has a long way to go, and

in many ways that is not surprising. It is a young countryits taken the UK 60 years to

get where we are and we still have problems.

For now, here in Qatar, it seems that there are many individuals and organizations that

are committed to high standards, but overall, implementation remains very inconsistent.

For every businesses, organization or building owner that prioritizes fire safety, many

more do not. And experts say Civil Defense simply does not have the manpower and

expertise to step in and put things right yet.

Adding to these concerns is a general lack of transparency and openness about how

things are done. In the course of researching this issue, Doha Newsapproached


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several shopping malls and residential tower blocks to find out about their safety

practices. In the vast majority of cases, this request was turned down.

If organizations are not confident enough in their own safety procedures to make them

public, it naturally raises the question of whether they really are doing enough, or

whether they feel they have something to hide.


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CHAPTER 5

QATARI VOICES

Although no Qatar citizens died in the Villaggio fire, many locals have spoken out about

what happened, calling it a national tragedy that affected everyone. Here, three Qataris

offer their opinions.


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Photo Credit: Josh Hughes


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MEDIA FROZEN

By Abdul Aziz Al Mahmoud, veteran journalist, author and publishing

consultant at Qatar Foundation

When it came on the news that there was a fire at Villaggio, we really couldnt

understand the magnitude of it. Who is there? What is happening? Is it a big one or a

small one?

And we found out at that point that we dont have very quick, responsive news.

Twitter was the only way to get information. People were standing outside tweeting

about it, and when I saw pictures of women crying for their kids, then I saw it was really

a big problem.

I was flicking from one TV channel to another. It was only one new channel, Al Rayyan,

which started to air something. The newspapers had nothing, nobody was there!

It was shocking, really shocking. It was a really bad thing that happened, people kept on

talking about it for days. But to be frank, they thought the media would take it up, and

that it would be in the media until things were solved.

But I dont think any of the mainstream news here in Doha covered it at all, only for two

or three days afterwards and then that was it. I have no idea why.

Is it because they just want to forget about it? Is it because the court

process takes too much time? It seems to me like everybody is waiting

for somebody to tell them what to do.

The question is, why are our media still in the freezer? Why are they not trying to

change the way they do things? Why do they just stand still as if it was the 1970s or

80s? This fire really made people aware of how bad our media is.


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I saw a report made by the Northwestern University in Qatar students about the fire. It

was nicely covered. I was wondering why something like this was not done by our

media? Whats wrong? Its not magic, its not missile technology! Its something very

easy students have done it, so why not our media?

I understand that people would like to go on with their lives, but it is good to know

exactly who is responsible and what went wrong. Personally I believe that if there is a

disaster or something bad happens, its not how it was solved that day, but what are the

lessons learnt?

I havent seen any regulation or reforms to stop it from happening again, except maybe

more regulation of the fire systems, but even that is not published. I havent seen

anything published. What was the old system that Civil Defense used to follow before,

and what has been changed now? Nobody knows.

Maybe they have been focusing on the malls. But something like this could happen in

an apartment building, in a school, a hospital. We need to know what kind of regulation

or changes they have been asked to do. People need to open up about this and we

need to understand.

Im relying on the young generation now to do much better than the present generation,

with their education and their understanding of other nations. They might come up with

solutions and they might be more open and more demanding. Lets hope so really. Im

just hoping that things will change.


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A WAKE-UP CALL

By Dr. Hend Al Muftah, associate professor of Human Resources Management

at Qatar University and managing director of the Childhood Cultural Centre

I felt panic and shock as this was the first time such scary event had happened in Qatar.

At the outset it was not easy for me to absorb the seriousness of the event, as I was

watching the dark, thick smoke above the mall from my office window. However, a few

hours later, I realized how serious it was the disaster of losing 19 innocent individuals

that turned that day into tragedy.

I believe that the Villaggio fire was a very strong wake-up call for the authorities to

consider safety and security as priority in their mentoring and controlling systems.

In reaction to the Villaggio fire, the authorities obliged all buildings (especially ones

housing children) to follow their new rules on safety and security, to be accomplished

during a specific period of time.

However, I think that such a wake-up call should be followed and evaluated

continuously in order to ensure that it is still valid and effective.

These lessons have been learned with pain, surely.

Socially, the event affected the Qatari community, which showed its sympathy to the

kids' families. Security-wise, the Qatari community became less trusting of the safety

systems in the public places.

Although it is a year since the event, the Villaggio fire is still a debated topic, especially

for the Qataris at Majlis" gatherings, and particularly the issue of the trial of the owners.

On the other side, the authorities are taking very serious preventive actions when it

comes to future constructions.


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SEEKING TRANSPARENCY

By Mohammed Al-Jufairi, Contracts Engineer at Dolphin Energy Company

When I first heard about the Villaggio Mall fire, I was skeptical about the intensity of the

blaze. I thought it was just another "kitchen fire," which is common in Qatar and not

newsworthy.

However, as news of the seriousness of the blaze started to spread, I was very nervous,

worried and restless. I was praying that no one was hurt.

When it was clear that people died, I think the Qatari community was angry and

heartbroken at the same time over the tragedy.

Never has Qatar been so united in grief and sorrow - both government and citizens

together, expats and locals. People felt very sympathetic toward the victims - which is

natural considering we are all humans.

On the day of the fire, we were angry about the lack of media coverage on this story.

The media should be ashamed of themselves. Period.

We rely on Twitter for these kind of issues - and Twitter is only as reliable as the person

who tweeted, which cannot be determined. We had to wait eight hours before the

government-based state TV channel told us what happened.

The government has a tough job trying to balance the information that

needs to go out to the public without contributing to the chaos or panic

that might follow, considering Qatar is a small community.

That, however is no excuse for not trying to cover this story live, as it happened.


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I am definitely seeing an improvement toward people incorporating aspects of fire safety

in homes, workplaces, and schools. But I think that at the time of the tragedy, people

were more active and vocal than they are now.

People should not become complacent; they should not stop thinking about safety or

talking about it.


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CHAPTER 6

VILLAGGIO NOW

Villaggio mall closed for three and a half months after the fire. When it did reopen in

September 2012, it was to a bittersweet reception, and minus one whole section of the

mall.


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Photo Credit: Penny Yi Wang


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-SECTION 1

BUSINESS AS USUAL?

Near the Gate 3 e

Documents

Villaggio Fire a Tragedy Silenced