Gonu Gone?!!

UPDATED! July 8th 2007

Hi all. Yes I’m back and I’m still alive!

I didn’t want to write about the cyclone GONU at first. The cyclone hit my country OMAN on June 6^th, (06.06.07) But then I thought to myself that Going Banana is going international now. I have readers from outside the country & the region as well. Hence I wanted to give you a glimpse of what happened, my version of what happened.

I strongly believe that a picture is worth a thousand words. That being said, I here grant you access to exclusive and non-exclusive pictures of the effects of the cyclone on our beloved country Oman and it’s capital Muscat.

The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Bausher was flooded with water as well. The mosque was closed for maintenance and was only re-opened on July 5th

Our neighbors Infiniti SUV was pushed with the power of water and placed in the middle of the stream

People were rescued by boats in some areas

Seems like a Range Rover flipped up-side down

My favorite coffee shop, Second Cup was flooded too!

This is the spare tire of one of our vehicles covered with mud

Two of our cars almost covered with water

McDonalds!

A relative's Ford Mustang messed up!

Some mountains collapsed and blocked the flow of traffic

Thank god we all are safe, I and the family :) Some of our properties have been a bit affected though. Have a look!

House: Ground floor was flooded with muddy water. Most of the Ground floor furniture is replaced. The water was almost 1m high inside the house.

Cars: Three cars were flooded. Two Toyota camrys’ 2003 model and a Honda Accord 1997 Model. The dealer asked for 3200 OMR for repairs (8,250 US $) for one of the two camrys’ while we are still waiting for the quotation for the second one. The Honda was fixed in a garage but it still malfunctions every now and then.

One of the most busiest roads in Qurum, Muscat

This is how a village would look like after being flooded

Stuck in the middle!

A waterfall formed after whole portions of roads fell down

The challenge was just to begin. After the flooding struck most parts of Muscat, a number of roads were disconnected and some areas weren't reachable without a 4X4 vehicle. Some areas were suffering from having no water, while others suffered having no electricity! And of course there were some of the areas suffering both! We didn't have water in our house from Thursday June 7th till Monday July 11th. You can imagine how life is like without running water in your residence! No water in the bathrooms, in the kitchen nor for washing clothes!

On Thursday, June 7th the whole family gathered around the TV. Our eyes teared from the pictures showing the amount of destruction Muscat suffered. I couldn't sit at home on the next day, not when I know that volunteers are needed almost everywhere! This is how I started working as a volunteer.

This is the place which I and my friend went to, Oman Charitable Organization

A police patrol parked along with police personals to ensure that law and order in the place

A full truck of water donated by one of the sheikhes of Oman to the OCO

Volunteers were Omanis and non-Omanis. All working hand by hand

You can see the piles of water unloaded from the truck. Such a truck would take less than an hour to be unloaded

One of the most hard working volunteers I saw! He would work from early morning till almost late evening

This is what happens if you start ditributing the food and water directly to the public

This was one of the BOMBS! lol! A truck full with everything to be unloaded!

The main thing we had to do as volunteers is to unload the trucks coming to the main building of the Oman Charitable Organization as donations. The second step would be loading some other 4X4 trucks with a variety of food supplies and cartoons of water. Those four-wheel drives would be responsible for distributing the food and the water among the people of the affected areas. When we had time in the late afternoons and early evenings, we would classify the food supplies and put each sort of food together. This made our life much more easier when time comes for loading the trucks. In the first three days there was a huge shortage of bread and water in the whole area. I participated in distributing those two to the needy people coming to us. Moreover I personally went along with a couple of trucks to Southern Al Hail to distribute food supplies and water in the area. We arrived in the area at almost 8.30pm and ended at 12.30am! My other fellows who went to places severely affected by the floodings such as Aamrat and Quryiat took a whole day to finish up the task! Yes, I mean 24 hours by saying a whole day. This was mainly because the trip to reach these areas would take around 5 hours and another 5 hours to come back. The most difficult and tiring task was to reach the affected people and distribute the supplies.

And last and not least; I want to mention that many people are homeless while many others lost properties, cars and other stuff. The picture I am presenting to you here does not necessarily describe the reality. Many lost their lives in the cyclone. We pray for them that Allah grand them forgiveness and his paradise. Amin!

Cyclone hits Oman
for more pictures from BBC, check this out...

Gonu Relief Blog
Amjad, Sleepless in Muscat and other bloggers started a relief blog. Check it out!

Gonu in YouTube eyes
Many videos can be found on youtube.