Gonu Cyclone

'Gonu cyclone is to hit Oman in 30 hours' was what we heard from the news on the 4th of June. The media was updating us regularly on the progress of the cyclone and ways to stay safe. At first we thought it would pass without any damages, hence life continued as it usually did in Nizwa. All it took to get us alarmed was the actual cyclone hitting Muscat, Sur, the Island of Musaiyra and a few other cities. They officially announced four days off. Exams were delayed for students. It hit on Thursday, Nizwa only witnessed a light rain in the morning while other coastal cities suffered from heavy rain storms and angry sea waves.

Only land lines were working, electricity went off for some time but these outcomes are now fixed, only running water is still a problem since till this moment some areas suffer from lack of water.

7000 people were evacuated immediately, they were given shelters in safe schools and were forced for the heat of the situation to leave their houses not knowing if they were ever to come back. The Sultan's armed forces spread along the coast. They created special hot-lines for people to call if they needed anything. As I have mentioned before the media's role in all of this was extremely vital, they answered calls from concerned citizen. Oman's national broadcasting channel aired all day long a show to update people on the cyclone, and so they were receiving complaints from people. Many called to assure us that people were safe, I remember listening to a call from a person whose house collapsed, a person who was trapped in his house with his children. Roads were filled with water. Cars were buried somewhere down or drown in water. Bridges collapsed. But most importantly 49 people died and some are still missing. Nothing can be compared to the loss of a living soul.

Nevertheless it was only obvious that the damages could have been much worse if it wasn't for the collaboration between people, media and the official authorities. Oman refused the offers that it received by many countries to help, and said that they would accept the help if they needed it. At first I thought that it wasn't such a smart move, but looking at how they handled the situation I think they had all the right to make such a statement.

After the cyclone left Oman, people started volunteering to gather food supplies, water, and so on for those who were left homeless. Buses from all over Oman carried all of this to the damaged cities.This cyclone left severe damages that were only noticed as the cyclone ended. Also mobile companies donated thousands of mobiles, recharged for their users.

It has changed lives of many people, ended some of those lives, made some lives grateful for still being alive.It might have made some souls leave this earth but it certainly brought those who are still alive together to control the damages.

Noor Said Al-Zubaidy
15 years
Oman

Opinions that should be heard

I can't remember a time when Iraq was in a good situation even though I haven't lived there for a long time but still, Saddam ruled the country for more than 35 years, and that is a long time to mess the country up.And then America came in and got rid of Saddam for Iraqis, and people say: Why didn't Iraqis make a revolution to get rid of him?

As an Iraqi, I would smile and maybe answer them, it's a shame that Saddam oppressed people and didn't let anything that happened in Iraq outside, so people didn't know anything -still some of them don't know what he has done-, he was going by the saying: "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas"

Now the USA liked being in Iraq, and convinced itself and its people that they can't get out of Iraq. They say that they can't leave the Iraqi police alone in this situation, they say they're not ready yet, which they'll never be if the USA stayed there.One thing to not just led to another, it led to a lot of things like Terrorism, a sectarian division, weak government, etc.

But from my point of view there isn't really a sectarian division, terrorists started it and the media promoted it and now everybody thinks that sunnas hate shias and vice versa .
The 'weak government' isn't weak, I mean they're controlled by the USA, terrorists, and people are demanding so much from the government. I'm not giving excuses for the government but I'm saying how things are, and yes they should do much more.

Media is only focusing on the bad things and the killing that is in Iraq, so by that they're only sending a message to people that Iraq will never have peace and that this way will stay forever and maybe get worse.As I said terrorists created sectarian division.

They are mass murdering people for no apparent reason, first it was because of the USA but they weren't killing American people, they were killing innocent Iraqis, and every day we hear the police captured terrorists, but they're just increasing every day.Now I'll get to the 'future of Iraq' from the point of view of my family, there are 2 opinions:

1- Iraq won't get better any time soon, and the government isn't doing anything at all.

2- Iraq will get better and we'll go back there and settle there for good.

My father has this great hope and expectations for Iraq that I highly support and I feel the same and he doesn't want to hear any of us saying that our home isn't one anymore.

Heated arguments happen often when our family gets together and we only disagree about the future of Iraq, I can only be optimistic when it comes to this.

I understand why some people lose hope and faith in any good thing that might happen to Iraq but still that's all what's left for us, I feel that it's the least we can do because Iraq doesn't deserve any of what's happening to it, neither do the Iraqis.

Huda Said Al-Zubaidy

15

Oman