'Oh, Man' ! What Havoc ! What Wreckage !

by Richie Lasrado
Resident Editor
Daijiworld.com
Mangalore

June 9, 2007

The photographs of the devastation wrought by Cyclone Gonu in the Sultanate of Oman are simply distressing and upsetting.

A lovely paradise, having thousands of years of colourful history, with the record of the longest reigning royal lineage in the Middle East, with Muscat holding the credit of being the only capital city in the world with the Tropic of Cancer passing through it, is now partly littered by debris and wreckage.

Lovely seaface walkways of Muttrah Corniche, Kalbuh and Riyam in the capital city of Muscat.

The mountains giving shelter to rare flora and fauna, the latter including endangered species like the Arabian Oryx and the Caracal Lynx, now protected under conservation laws.

The coastal stretch and the interior dotted by centuries-old forts and citadels.

The mountains of Al Sharqia, home to world's only species of the Arabian Tahr (Hemitragus Jayakari), the mountain goat discovered by Dr Atmaram S G Jayakar, a surgeon from Mumbai, who served in Oman for long 27 years towards the end of the 19th century, serving as army surgeon and the personal physician of the then ruler of Oman.

The lovely beaches stretching from Al Qantab right up to Al Sawadi island.

The hot springs of Al Dakhaliya.

The rich deposits of rare earths and metals.

The list is long. Added to it is the stupendous progress achieved by the country during the last 36 years under the enlightened and dynamic leadership of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said.

The leader who has so graciously provided a second home to almost 400,000 Indian expatriates.

With a far sight, the government of Oman geared up to face the situation with admirable precautionary measures like pressing into action its whole security and armed forces machinery, by shutting down the country for four days and the like.

The wisdom shown by the Omani authorities is vindicated - the level of human loss was much lower than what could have been. 

Yet there was a huge loss to private and public property. The recovery to normal situation may take some time.

India, as a friendly nation, should stand by and express its solidarity with this beautiful country, with friendly people and rich culture and heritage.

Our sympathies go out to everyone who suffered the loss in whatever way.

The Cyclone and after

by Robert D'Costa
Freelance journalist and a former resident of Oman
Mangalore

It's an unusual phenomenon occurring in Oman where rains are occasional in the year which is restricted to showers while temperature should have been soaring at this time of the year and monsoon has made it's thunder in India. 

The civic authorities including security personnel may have been to some extent caught unawares as they had no experience in handling such kind of natural calamity as cyclone Gonu.  The flash floods in the past from the showers would easily pass through parched wadis (river beds) to join the Arabian sea in the capital area.  Port Sultan Qaboos which handles most of the imports in Muttrah was come under the fury when the barrier walls erected through picturesque Corniche have been severely damaged. Besides, the old Muttrah souq was water-logged. 

The Capital Commercial Centre(CCC) Prisunic and Al Harthy Complex were built on reclaimed land. In Qurum where once wadi flowed caused havoc on the expressway while traffic was diverted through the service road through Mina Qaboos route to join the expressway at Qurum. 

The expressway which survived the velocity of wind was motorable since it passes throguh the gorges of mountains.  Traffic bottlenecks were found to be common on this expressway as the highways on low-lying areas were water logged. 

The vital link beteeen Wadi Hatat and Quriat was cut off when the bridge was washed away.  Mina Qaboos, the hub of oil tankers were berthed at deep sea for fear of lying aground.  Oman LNG located 3kms away from port town, Sur(300kms away from Muscat) survived the damage as it is shielded by mountains in the neighbourhood.  Otherwise, the velocity of wind would have disrupted the supplies of LNG for many days. 

However, it a reminder to all those impoverished expatriates who only think of remitting their earning well before the end of the month contemplate on how the nature's fury can topple their calculations with uncertainty creeping into their lives.

Earlier coverage:

Muscat: Large-scale Devastation, Ghala Church Damaged

Report and pics by Clarence Pinto
Daijiworld team
with Stanley Fernandes

• Photo Album - 1 Click Here
• Photo Album - 2 Click Here
• Photo Album - 3 Click Here
• Photo Album - 4 Click Here

Muscat, Jun 8: To check the aftereffects of Gonu tropical cyclone in Muscat area, the Daijiworld Muscat team exclusively travelled along with Stanley T H Fernandes, the current president of Mangalorean Catholic Centre of the Parish and one of the longest serving Mangaloreans in Oman, to various places in and around Muscat and found the damages caused were wide-ranging. We had to walk miles to get the photographs since the roads leading to these spots were closed and / or damaged.

Destruction was worst in some places. In these places water and electricity supply also not available right now.

The road towards Quriyat city next to Wadi Hatat roundabout has been totally damaged. We could see wooden logs, refrigerators and building materials arround the wadis. Huge trailers can be seen having rolled over and washed into the wadis. Al Amerat and Wadi Hatat road link has been severed.

The main road leading from Ruwi to Qurum opposite to Al Harthy Complex has been damaged and all the traffic is being diverted from CCC complex. The CCC complex, McDonalds, Al Araimi Complex and Pizza Hut areas have been extensively damaged and the area has been inundated with water and mud. All the luxury shopping malls around that high-end shopping area in Qurm were filled with water, mud and are heavily damaged. Shop-owners are busy retrieving whatever is left of their stocks and are trying to restore the units.

The new car stock-yard of Toyota has suffered the maximum damage. The whole stock-yard was ravished by the cyclonic water. There were hundreds of brand new cars piled up one over the other. The bridge near Royal Hospital roundabout has collapsed.

We could see heavy damage wrought on the Holy Spirit Church - Ghala and Protestant Church - Ghala buildings. The whole area was covered with mud and sand. The faithful were trying to clean the hall but the church is in a very bad state and it might take many days to restore it to its original condition. The Ghala church car park isfilled with sand and mud. It was really upsetting to see the place having been damaged to such an extent.