Thursday, June 07, 2007

updated news bulletin - part 10: help needed


The video you see above is what happened to my car after driving around in some areas. Nothing a little water won't cure. :P

Back to the serious issues.

There has been news about the Royal Oman Police encatering some 20,000 inhabitants from various areas over the Sultanate whilst there has a been a report of a death of 12 people of which until now, their nationalities are still unknown. It seems that they were too close to the beach and the waves engulfed them with it.

There has been a lot of damage all over the Muscat capital whereby trees and large plants were uprouted from their roots. The Shatti Al Qurum 'love road' has been demolished due to the heavy rains and a part of the Qurum-Darsait bridge has fallen down onto the lower road beneath it.

The entire Qurum, Madinat Qaboos areas are full flooded with mud, floods and piles of stones scattered all over the road from Madinat Qaboos towards the Qurm roundabout. The Qurum roundabout is a total mess as it is flooded and only large vehicles can seem to get through.

Telecommunications seem to be coming back to some parts of the Sharqiyah region such as Jaalan bani bu Ali. There has still been no reports about Sur but as they say 'No news is good news'. Hopefully all the residents are alive and kicking.

The amount of the water that had fallen down on Muscat has been the most that the capital had ever seen in decades with the latest record being 1981.

For further information and updates about the ongoing situation in parts of Muscat, please refer to Amjad's Blog in these posts: here & here.

I would like to take this opportunity to address anyone outside the Sultanate of Oman to please come forward if you have any expertise in the rescue or machinery field to lend a helping hand. As it is, there are still a lot of places in Oman that need to tended to and although the authorities think they are in control, the truth is quite the oppisite. Oman TV has asked anyone from inside the Sultanate with any sort of machinery or such large vehicles that could assist in the rescue operations to restore power, telecommunications and provide foodstuff to the people of Oman to come forward.
We need all the help we can get..

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

..I wish I were there to help a country that I love so much..
..I feel very powerless, i need to do something..and even i have no net to call my friends there..and that's driving me crazy..
Be strong, please. U have all my mind and my heart. That's all I can do from here.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
hello sleepless...thanx a bunch for keeping us updated abt gonu...ur blogs have been the best news provider so far.Do u have any news from Sur?My sister and family are in the coastal area of sur and since yesterday there has been no communication.We r worried sick and has been trying to get some sort of communication from somewhrere...please ,can u help us?

Sleepless In Muscat said...

chiarina:

Thank you for well wishes. If you know of anyone who is able to send any kind of help at this period of time in your side of the planet please inform them so. We need all the help we can get our hands on.

Anonymous:

I wish I could. You could probably refer to the link that Oman TV's online feed is offering on around-the-clock bulletins about further news about any part of the sultanate.

My hopes and prayers are with you and your family alongside your sister's safe communication back to you.

God's speed.

Anonymous said...

thanx once again sleepless..for the prayers and wishes.prayers r the only solace we have now.hope to get some news from Sur by tomorrow..

cwazyy said...

Hi Sleepless, your blog is one of the few hopes I have! My Parents live just north of the roundabout near Lulu, close to the sea shore. I am not able to speak to them, as telephones are not working and there is no electricity, cant call on the cell phone as it will discharge and it is their only means of communication. All I know is that they are safe, and their house was completely flooded and all their stuff was destroyed. If you have any information about that area, can you please post it in your blog. I would really appreciate any information I can get. Thanks in advance...

Sleepless In Muscat said...

Anonymous:

Yes, it is. And hopefully by the time you would have read this, you would have heard some good news about your family - God willing.

Cawzyy:

All I know about the area is that it recieved heavy rains to the point of being flooded but those rains somehow washed away somewhere. If you're attempting to call on a mobile line with a number that start with '99' - that is an Oman Mobile network. They have a huge subscriber base and most of their communications are still down - although they are working around-the-clock to restore everything back to order.

Keep patient. Pray for your family. And try calling them again every half hour or so. Or if you know their landline number, you could try that.

I have a friend in that area and as far as he is concerned everything is A.OK.

BuJ said...

bless you guys and hope everyone is safe and dry now. ameen.