Glimpse of humanity

It’s certainly been very interesting looking at all the photographs of the Riyadh floods Tweeted on Flickr and Picasa, seeing the cars almost completely submerged in the flash floods but it’s pictures of the people caught in the thick of it that can really speak a thousand words. I love this photograph from AliAlOhali and find it very heart-warming.

Riyadh floods – a day on

The following is from سَمْ وَن:

 

The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh said two days ago, that the roads and streets in the Kingdom are not defective, and that their preparation and design were made at the highest levels [...]  Mayor of Riyadh Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Mohammed  answered when asked about the fact that 72% of districts have no storm water drainage network : “We are not in an open meeting, and I will answer later,” the media was discharged so they do not dare to ask him again.  The only common factor between the two positions is the lack of transparency and credibility.

More at Arabnews.com where Riyadh residents are warned of further rains:

An official from the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment Protection (PME) said that the rains would continue over the next 24 hours. He described the weather conditions as “unstable” and said winds were blowing at 42 kilometers per hour from the southwest. The PME urged citizens and residents to take precautionary measures.

Reuters coverage (in Arabic) but very little in the way of detail.

A round up of various blog posts on the floods can be found at Global Voices.

Check out Saudi Jeans for more videos of the flooding.

More photos of the chaos yesterday at de.caf‘s Flickr photostream, many photos of almost completely submerged vehicles but it was the submerged Toyota pickup that particularly struck me.

I have heard from people who have been out on the roads today that although there are areas where there is still some flooding, for the most part roads are open and operational as usual. It seems that those underpasses that were so severely flooded yesterday have been pumped out. The concern however is the weather forecast which warns of further rains over the coming days.

Riyadh’s Rain & Flood Chaos Today

Sheer chaos in Riyadh today after a heavy rain storm that started just after lunch – around 2pm local time. I was at home enjoying the change of weather, watching the rain, listening to the thunder… little did I know what kind of madness would ensue.  There seems to be an absolute blackout by the Saudi media, no radio coverage advising people of which roads are closed, where the worst of the flooding is and what to do.  All information available is coming from those on the streets via sites such as Twitter using the hashtag #RiyadhRain and Twubs. Apparently most schools and KSU are closed tomorrow – it’s 10pm and my children are not even home from school yet anyway.

Civil Defence declares state of emergency because of the rain in Riyadh

Just take a look at the photographs and the videos.

Photo courtesy of Arabcrunch.com

Photo courtesy of Arabcrunch.com

 

Extensive gallery of photos here that really shows the scale of this disaster. Click on ‘slideshow’ in the top left to see the photos in full size.

 Abu Bakr As-Siddiq flooded tunnel:

School bus submerged in a tunnel:

Apparently this is a gushing sewer:

Flooding on the Eastern ring road:

Snowing?

OK, not quite snowing in Riyadh but the next best thing for me: snow on my blog!

Whilst the weather in Riyadh does get pretty cold in winter (from about November or December), I don’t think it ever snows in this region. The temperature here ranges between 0°C in the winter to in excess of 50°C in the summer however, the dryness of the air can make even 15°C seem cold!

If you are in Saudi Arabia and are hankering for snow, you’ll need to go to the south western and northernmost regions of the country.

Here’s an old Youtube video to give you a taster!

Trying to be environmentally friendly in Riyadh…

Recycling is very slow catching on here in Saudi Arabia which is quite a shock after coming from the UK where you are rationed carrier bags in the supermarkets, given incentives to reuse those bags or use woven shopping bags; where local councils will now fine you for putting recyclables in with the regular trash; where recyclables such as plastic and tin cans are collected bi-weekly and where there are bottle banks at most major supermarkets.

The volume of rubbish in my dustbin here in Riyadh is enormous due to the fact that nothing is recycled and and also due to over-packaging of products in the supermarkets. Quite frankly, it is disturbing.

The only thing I am able to recycle is water bottles as the big 5 gallon bottles are collected, cleaned and reused. Obviously you need to purchase some kind of pump or cooling machine in order to use these bottles.

Recently Carrefour supermarket has started selling tough, reusable woven bags for the shopping so thumbs up to Carrefour for that. Thumbs down to Carrefour though for not offering people any incentive to use these bags. If you forget the bags or don’t buy them, the bag packers who automatically pack your shopping for you will still pack your shopping into as many carrier bags as is humanly possible. You will get home and find one item in some bags for no apparent reason.

I have heard about recycling bottle banks etc. in Jeddah but thus far, nothing of the sort that I am aware of in Riyadh. Would love to be stand corrected though…

 

Water wastage is another big issue here. Riyadh is a desert oasis and as such water has to be pumped along water pipes from coastal cities. I find it appalling seeing people hosing water their cars down when a sponge and bucket of water would do the same job and leaving sprinklers on to water their lawns when there are hadith remonstrating against the wastage of water. As muslims there is enough evidence in the Qur’an and hadith to show us that environmentalism (preserving and not wasting) is incumbent upon us.

The Prophet ( صلى الله عليه و سلم  ) told his companion, Sa’ad, that he was using an excessive amount of water to make ablution, wudu, saying ‘do not waste [water]‘. Sa’ad then asked if there could ever be wastage if water was used for the purpose of wudu. The Prophet’s ( صلى الله عليه و سلم ) reply was, ‘Yes. Even if you are by a flowing river.’

 

On another similar occasion he said, ‘In anything there can be waste.’  Indeed the Prophet even stated that pouring too much water for ablution, wudu, is an act of the devil [a bad action].

From the following ayah from the Qur’an we can see that the preserving the earth and it’s provisions are a trust from Allah (swt):

We did indeed offer the Trust to the Heavens and the Earth and the Mountains: but they refused to undertake it, being afraid thereof: but man undertook it― he was indeed unjust and foolish (Qur’an 33:71)

We should attempt to preserve Allah’s balance and not destroy it:

And everything with Him is measured (Qur’an 13:8) :

Indeed the earth may have been entrusted to man but there is greater wisdom in everything if only we knew and the earth serves multiple purposes:

Ibn Qayyim al_Jawziyya (d.751/1350) is windely known as a writer on law and dogma, but he also paid great attention to the animal kingdom. His writings on the environment provide terminologies, observations and definitions similar to modern environmental scholars:

The wisdom of God made the earth like a mother that carries inside its womb different kinds of children. It acts for them as a containers, kitafa, that supports the living and hides the dead… Observe the great wisdom of God who has made plenty of what His creatures need. The more they need a thing, the more was made available by God… (Excerpt from The Environmental Dimensions of Islam * )