Help Pours in for Filipino Fire Victims
DUBAI: Hundreds of Overseas Filipino Workers were rendered homeless in what has been described as one of the biggest residential fire incidents in the city’s history.
The fire lasted for more than four hours and gutted three buildings on the busy Salahuddin Street in Muraqqabat the evening of November 23.
Traffic stood still amid the wailing sirens of emergency vehicles as most of the buildings’ occupants, rushing home after cutting their work short, stared in shock and disbelief, their belongings, including vital documents like passports and visas, going up in the breezy air.
The fire broke out at Al Shamsi Building around 5pm and was put under control 10:30pm.
No casualties or injuries were reported. Dubai Police has cordoned the area off while probing the incident and calculating the cost of the damages.
The fire reportedly started in Block B and rapidly spread to Blocks A and C. Residents of nearby buildings were evacuated. Al Shamsi Building is right next to a five-star hotel, Crowne Plaza, and a petrol station.
The last time UAE had a fire incident in a similar magnitude was on May 11, 2010 at a Sharjah paint factory.
QUICK RELIEF
Consul General Paul Raymund Cortes, thanking the community for its quick response to the incident by providing victims with food, water and clothing at the night of the incident, has the following day, set-up a coordinating body led by Consul Ryan Pondoc and tasked to come up with a database on the OFWs’ needs so that appropriate action can be done.
Cortes, along with other Consulate officials and staff, were at the site organizing emergency action for the OFWs while firemen were battling the fire.
“The Philippine Consulate General is very thankful for all the assistance the community has given. It demonstrates solidarity regardless of race, religion and nationality. Emiratis, Africans, Pakistanis, Indians, fellow Filipinos were there,” he told The Filipino Times.
Cortes said a center has been set up by PCG at Barrio Fiesta on Salahuddin Street for the victims to register and list down what they have lost in the fire “to find out exactly what kind of assistance they need.”
Pondoc said they registered at least 200 victims on the night of November 24. The process continues.
“We don’t have the exact numbers yet,” said Pondoc referring to Filipino fire victims. “But we were able to assist around 200 Filipinos who were relocated to another apartment complex in Hor Al Anz.”
Cortes added PCG will also explore the possibility of asking the OFWs’ employers to give temporary accommodation if necessary.
“The Consulate is spearheading relief operations. We are calling on the community to work hand in hand with us,” he said.
Help can be dropped off at the Consulate’s ground as well as at the Philippine Overseas Labor Office – Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (POLO-OWWA) both in Al Qusais.
“Donations may be accepted at POLO office. Urgent items: bottled water, toiletries, sleeping materials, canned goods and nonperishable items,” said Pondoc.
COMMUNITY SUPPORT
Support has started pouring in from various organizations, among them the Advance Kapitik photography group, which will be holding a fundraiser dubbed, “Shoot for a Cause Dubai;” and Prospeed, a car club whose spokesperson, Michael Sui said their group will likewise hold a similar activity.
This paper has also launched TFT Reach where donations can be accepted in any of its offices in Rigga or Port Saeed(see back page ad for more info).
Fiesta Pinoy separately launched the Dine and Donate campaign on November 25 where diners paid Dh20, half of which went to the victims.
St. Mary’s Church is also holding a relief drive for the victims.
“When we heard about the news, we exchanged calls and tried to find a way to provide aid. We are planning to give commodities like canned goods, clothes, and toiletries to name a few,” Sui said.
Rose VennyImprogo, who works at a hypermart in Ibn Battuta Mall, said, “What we have left with are just the clothes on our backs, nothing else.”
Improgo said she was informed about the blaze by a flatmate through phone and had to run to the scene because the train operation was suspended due to the fire incident.
“Karamihansamganasanakatirasa buildings ay nasa work ngmagsimulaangapoy (most of the occupants were at work when the fire started),” she said.
Improgo said around 80 percent of the buildings’ occupants were OFWs.
The buildings house 48 three-bedroom units spread in three blocks, officials said.
According to other residents, each unit has approximately 15 occupants.
Improgo was among the 38 residents who were booked by PCG at a nearby hotel for the night after the blaze. According to her, other residents have sought refuge at their friends’ and relatives’ place.
Among the OFWs’ worries were lost vital documents like passports, diplomas and employment contracts.
Cortes, recalling the night he was at the site, said, “Dumagsaangmgatao asking for help. (The people gravitated to us asking for help).
“Anginaalalanila ay yungmganasunognadokumento. Madalilangyungmgadamit. Yung passport at IDs, mahirap. (They were concerned about lost documents. The clothes are easy to replace but passports and IDs are not),” he said, adding that his office will work with appropriate agencies, including the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) back home on this.
The incident stirred immediate action from concerned Filipinos all over Dubai and nearby emirates.
“I was there last night and I saw that Filipino expats have individually and as groups taken the initiative to help so they are well served already. All the victims want now is to go back to the building to see if they could still find anything they could salvage from the fire and water damage,” said Wendell Castro of Task Force UAE (FilCom DNE).
Ronaldo Salcedo, chapter president of the United Architects of the Philippines in Dubai, said their group has already mobilized a relief operation for the victims.
“Even as an individual, kahithindi as an organization, very responsive tayosamgakatuladnitongklasengsakuna. We started gathering donations on Tuesday. All items will be given to the consulate for distribution to the victims,” he said.
TESTIMONIES
The buildings’ occupants, while feeling sad about their losses, which included care boxes for their loved ones in the Philippines this Christmas season, were thankful no one died or was hurt.
Pablo Palajos Jr. said he was grateful the fire didn’t happen in the wee hours of the morning when everyone was sound asleep.
“For me, only material things were gone. What’s more important is life. It would have been worse if the fire happened in the middle of the night,” he said.
“I rushed back home but it was too late. The place has been cordoned off. Nobody could come in. Nothing was saved,” he added.
He said packages that were ready to be sent back to the Philippines were reduced to ashes.
For her part, accountant ClaudsOblena, who has been in Dubai the past seven years, was still shaken when interviewed.
She said her employers offered their guest room for her temporary stay.
“They were really kind. There was also an Indian national who bought groceries and gave them to us,” she said.
She said there were other people of different nationalities passing by and giving them help while they were out in the streets the night of the fire.
Oblena said their landlady paid for their stay at a hotel that night.
A salesman working at a supermarket chain in Mirdiff City Center who gave his name only as Yuan said he couldn’t believe it when his flatmate told him about the fire.
He immediately asked his employer to allow him to take the rest of the day off after his friend phoned him a photo.
“The first thing I saw when I arrived was smoke and the blaze,” he said.
Asked how he felt, Yuan said everyone was sad but was relieved there were no reported casualties.
“Syemprepinagpundaranmongilangtaonyung material things manghihinayangkapero the most important thing is ligtaslahatngflatmatesko at okay kami (Of course, you worked for it for many years. They are material things and you’d feel sad for the loss. But the most important thing is everybody’s safe),” he said.
He feels lucky his passport was with his employer.
But he said his other important documents were burned.
Yuan who has been in Dubai for the past five years and his flatmates will still celebrate the yuletide season with a big smile and thanks.
Geraldine Terrible, a newbie in Dubai, was still shocked about how things had happened so fast.
“Nagulatako. Hindi akomakapaniwala (I was shocked. I could not believe it),” the 45-year-old Terrible said when his landlady told her about the fire.
She said they spent the first night renting an apartelle.
The Al Shamsi Building owner offered temporary shelter to displaced tenants in one of his other buildings with 20 flats.
Some victims were also sponsored to stay at City Star Hotel in Salahuddin. The Dubai Police, meanwhile, booked 25 hotel rooms for the others, according to Consul Ferdinand Flores.
The Al Ahli Group, the owner of Little Manila Restaurant, also offered temporary accommodation for its 64 employees who lost their homes in Dubai.