Mory garage inferno – lessons to learn

Saturday, July 7th, 2007

Maryam Shuhana

 

It was the worst fire in the recent history of Malé.  Mory garage was set ablaze last Tuesday morning when a spark from welding works on a car ignited a nearby petrol tank. Soon the fire spread to stored gas cylinders and turned into an inferno that ravaged the three-story building almost instantly. Mory garage was in the midst of a densely populated area of Malé, so it did not take long for several other houses to catch the blazing fire. Five houses in the vicinity were gutted along with the large garage, which was recently constructed with steel corrugated sheets reinforced by a steel framework.

 

Abdul Latheef, popularly known as Mory is one of the most experienced and reputed automobile repairers. He started this profession in his childhood and expanded his garage to what everyone knew as Mory Garage. Until about six months ago, Mory was doing all his repair work in the ground floor of his wife’s housing plot. Residents were not happy about doing this kind of work so closer to their houses, but they did not complain. But when Mory started to make a 3-story tall steel building to expand his garage, residents had serious reservations and they voiced their concerns. They could not do anything to stop Mory building the big steel garage. Mory had heard their complaints but the garage was his livelihood and car repairs his love. He is a nice man who did not want his neighbors to feel bad about him. But stopping the garage plan was not easy for him. The Garage was completed and he ordered millions of rufiyaa worth of parts and other items for the garage.

 

The new super garage was Mory’s dream and life ambition. He invested millions for the project. It is estimated Mory would have spent Rf. 1.5 million for the building and Rf 4 million for auto parts, which included more than 200 tyres and 50 engines. Unfortunately Mory could not install the necessary anti-fire equipment in the garage. He had planned to open the new garage on Wednesday, just one day after the killer fire destroyed the whole building and its contents. The fire also destroyed 5 neighboring houses resulting in a huge loss of property and displacing over 200 people. The raging inferno and black smoke engulfing a large area sent shock waves to a large number of residents in the neighborhood who hurriedly moved to safer places. Children and women were crying in fear as the fire caught more houses and the black smoke filled more of the blue sky. Residents of all houses in the area felt the hot air and exhaustion of the heavy smoke.

 

" It was terrifying. We thought our house will catch fire. It was so near. We were feeling the hot air and rubber smelling smoke that almost suffocated us. My little children are still suffering from the shock and trauma of the deadly fire. We are thankful to so many neighbors and others who came to our rescue. MNDF fire fighters did a great job. But we are very upset and concerned that these garages are operating in our midst. It’s very dangerous. We thought they were moving these garages and petrol and gas stations to places away from residential areas," Hussein Ismail, a resident  of a nearby house said. 

 

Hussein’s concern was echoed by many who saw the devastation of Mory garage fire. Owners of the five houses ravaged in the fire have invested all their hard-earned income to build their houses. They have received generous assistance from various sources including the government. But what they have received will be hardly sufficient to rebuild their houses and obtain new household furniture and other items. Insuring buildings and houses is something new to Maldivians. Even Mory’s multi million rufiyaa new garage was not insured. It seems he was in the process but even a person of his experience just missed this very important requirement. At the same time if Mory had fixed fire fighting equipment, the fire accident might have been prevented, thus avoiding such a terrible fire and huge loss.

 

Mory garage inferno is now the past.  It is not the time to blame one another. There are weaknesses in policies, planning and enforcement areas. It is very easy to say that all garages must be moved to non-residential areas. But Malé is so small and congested. Complaints are increasing about the high cost of services. So it will not be easy to have all garages in a more distant area or moving them to Thilafushi or Hulhumalé’. But what is possible and what has been procrastinated is strengthening regulations and enforcement. Garages must not be allowed to work unless they have necessary safety measures including anti-fire facilities. A large number of residents are also very worried that gas shops are in many residential areas.  These concerns must be taken seriously in order to avoid future tragedies.

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