Marina fire: Residents move back into Sulafa after night of upheaval

Sulafa Tower residents wait for access into their homes

Several residents took a day off from work, cancelling presentations and client meetings to tend to the situation at home in Sulafa Tower. Logistics and routines up in the air, many residents were seen in the same clothes on Thursday morning as on Wednesday evening, a rarity for Dubai.
By 3pm though, things were under control. The majority of residents who were gathered in the lobby in the morning had dispersed. The service elevator was functional. And residents by early evening were free to go up to their apartments.
A resident in a formal blue work shirt said: "I haven't socialised as much with any neighbours in the last year and a half as I have in the last 12 hours!" He said he was pleasantly surprised. "Now I know some names and have their numbers on my phone."
His wife on Wednesday had left the door unlocked when she heard the alarm as she thought she was only stepping into the corridor. On Thursday, the house was fine, door and belongings untampered with, everything as it was. He said he didn't know abou the impacted side, but had seen people taking lifts to the 65th and 66th floor as well, indicating that people on the higher floors with undamaged apartments were being let in.
The two-fires surviving Syrian national Mohammad Ammar Al Bitar, who lived in Tiger Tower - also known as Pinnacle Tower - earlier when it set ablaze in February 2015, said he went to his brother's place to stay the night. When he reached Sulafa in the morning, and couldn't go up in the elevator as it wasn't working. And taking the stairs wasn't something the resident of the 46th floor was keen on. He returned later in the evening and saw that his house was fine, no damage, the corridor was fine "only a little water in the lift." He returned and collected his clothes and took a shower and said he can stay there now if he wants, but headed back to his brother's place.
Shivani Rai, an employee of Union National Bank and 23rd floor resident who had moved into Sulafa tower on Tuesday from Abu Dhabi, returned to Abu Dhabi with her kids and husband. "It was comforting for the children to be in a familiar place where they had lots of friends," she said. "Abu Dhabi called us back!" They planned to be back in Dubai on Thursday evening when they would be allowed back up their apartment without waiting.
Sitting inside the lobby of Sulafa and just waiting, one of the calmer residents, a Swede, Thomas Kalmar, said he had been observing the culturally different reactions of people to the fire. Some people took it more in their stride, others he said were hysterical, whether or not any personal belongings had been damaged.
Kalmar, a resident of the 53rd floor, had seen the fire on Wednesday from his office window at Internet City. He was one of the several residents who didn't go to the office on Thursday. Kalmar told Khaleej Times: "Our apartment is fine. We're lucky". He said he's going to get personal insurance first thing next week. Kalmar said he didn't understand why people always spoke of leaving the building after a fire "as these things can happen to anyone at anytime." He was, however, concerned that "even if the fire doesn't destroy everything, the sprinklers might have harmed the electronics." But he would only know once he was allowed back up. "I have to travel to Europe next week", he said, "I hope my passport is not damaged."
Two silver linings for Kalmar: He is glad he's not in a villa as "then you have to deal with it on your own," In a building, he said pointing out to the brisk manner in which the damage was being controlled, " there are people handling it for you." Kalmar was all praises for the management and the firefighters for sorting everything out so quickly. He also believes some calamities bring people together. "I've gotten to know my neighbours now."
nivriti@khaleejtimes.com
 

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