Thursday, January 3, 2008

Post Cyclone Gonu

Post cyclone Gonu , or maybe I should give you an outline on this.June 6th , 2007 came a cyclone of class 5 (predicted to be of class one-the worst , but the force pulled down as it neared the Arabian coast).The area I stayed in was near the coastal plains.It did affect my area drastically but not cos of the cyclone but cos of a dam which was left open to avoid damages to the near by areas.

The post cyclone effects were visible the very next day itself.To witness people bathing in dirt water that too in a foreign country is definately a sight. Infact my area , Ghubra, had actually become a temporary tourist destination!To have people clicking photographs of the broken road opposite my house, and the path where we used to go for our evening walks was something that will always remain etched in my mind.People were adapting to days without food, water, electricity and for some even without a shelter.I remember that when I and my dad had gone to Lulu to get few stuff for home people were literally getting physical for a bottle of water.One case got that worse that they had to pull in cops to deal with it and eventually started '2 bottles per person' rule.

Life came back to normal , atleast for me , as for me college had begun.Getting used to an autonomous life I had already forgotten about the past.And last week when I landed in Oman for my X'mas leave , there were major changes.Almost 90% of the damages are mended or replaced.Then we had people discussing that if such a thing had taken place in India we would not be able to see it repaired atleast in 20 years. I don't know about India , but the Ministry of Oman has done an incredible job! With monarchy ruling the nation, the orders given by the Sultan are always obeyed.Maybe if Oman had a democratic Government the cyclone damages would have probably not been cleared so fast as you know a proposal has to be passed and the members need to approve of it and etc. Well like I have always said all's well that end's well.

Profile view of the same Mc D!


P.S. Snapshots updated (My pics/photo blog)

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I heard it's the strongest cyclone that's hit the Arabian coast after a gap of 60 yrs. Quite a situation!

Anonymous said...

How many people actually lost their lives? I had read somewhere that the estimated amount was around 30-60.

Neha Nair said...

Deepthi: Well to be honest the Government here did not publicise or expose the actual number of deaths caused here cos it's against the country's law.I am sure you must have not noticed this , but the Govt. of Oman does not reveal any of the murder , rape , theft , criminal cases to the outside world.

Anonymous said...

I don't think they had a problem recovering from the shock.. they have the sources required to overcome such losses.

Neha Nair said...

Ya anonymous in a way , most of the GCC countries are rich inclusing Oman. But nothing would have actually got into working if it was not for the efficient working system.Kudos to the Sultan and that's definately a lesson to learn.

Anonymous said...

Whats the sultans name?

Neha Nair said...

Sultan Qaboos Bin Said.

Anonymous said...

Looks like u pple understud the value of water after all ths happened. nice pics

strollinthunder said...

Its good to see that the country has recovered and everything is back to normal.
I don't think the credit should go to the monarchy,rather to the will of its people.

>>Maybe if Oman had a democratic Government the cyclone damages would have probably not been cleared so fast

I sense a deep disdain on the democratic ways of functioning..?

Neha Nair said...

Exactly... and precisely why I wrote on this topic cos I felt this was one case where the public worked through the king unlike the govt. working through the people.And yes united they stand!But I guess we also need to look at their economic treasures and ofcourse need to take the population into consideration.