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Jeddah is one of the most important cities in Saudi Arabia and the gateway to trade,

which has

gained great importance through international trade with foreign markets. Jeddah is

characterized as a main gate of the Two Holy Mosques and the first stop for the

pilgrims.

Unfortunately, this main and significant city in the gulf suffers many severe problems

which always lead to devastating consequences due to the lack of organization and

planning. One of the greatest catastrophe was the flood that occurred at the end of

January 2011, and it was not the first of its kind since another flood occurred by the

end of the year 2009. These two floods caused a lot of troubles, difficulties, and

depressions. These floods wiped out thousands of homes in the city and killed at least

122 people who were living in illegally settled areas east of Saudi Arabias second-

largest city.

In the largest clampdown on corruption in the kingdoms history, police arrested

dozens of current and former officials and contractors in an investigation related to the

floods in Jeddah. Moreover, the municipality previously attributed the causes of the

disaster to rapid population growth in eastern parts of the city, where nearly one

million people have illegally built homes on land without obtaining permits.

The municipality said most of the houses destroyed by the floods were built in low-

lying areas and in valleys through which water had flowed.

Here we have to stop for a moment, how come an essential vital city in a great rich

kingdom suffers such a problem??? Its neither because of the speedy population

growth nor because of building homes in low-lying areas and in valleys through which

water can flow. Take Holland as a clear example of a country that is below sea level

and yet, no such problem was mentioned or stated.

We all know that rain and floods happened due to Gods will, but the city and the

government should be always ready to face such difficult disasters. Jeddah lacks

organization, substitution plans, a well prepared drainage system, and most of all the

capacity to handle the flood, although the government says over the past five years it

has allocated billions of riyals to developing such a system. Besides, the government

also declared that it was only able to complete 30 per cent of the drainage system in

the city due to the lack of satisfactory funds provided by the ministry of finance. The

ministry said it allocated sufficient funds to do the job.

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Jeddah is a great example of corruption. This city of more than 4 million people still

lacks a dirt system and treatment facility. The rain that fell last week had nowhere to

go but to flood the streets and neighborhoods, creating havoc and death in its path.

Who is really responsible of these two massive flooding and the deaths of more than

1500 people. To lessen the embarrassment, official reports shrank the number of

flood-related deaths to just over 100. Many Saudis are asking how such a catastrophe

could occur in one of the world's richest countries and in its second-largest and most

multicultural city. The answer is .none.

Hundreds of bodies were swept in the current and up to 11,000 people were missing inthe sea, and yet, no body still cares

What is so funny is that the government instead of establishing a newly drainage

system and taking responsibilities, it blamed people who built their homes in

unplanned and low areas.

When are we going to yell aloud and say stop! No! Enough! Till when are we going to

agonize and worry about our lives? How much can we endure and bear more? Howmany people shall die till they take this severe problem into consideration? Who is

responsible of our life? This is a puzzleare we going to live the rest of our lifetime

as victims???

From now on we will fightfor our rights, we will struggle, our childrens lives areprecious and sacred to us.lets put hand in hand, walk step by step, together in order

to attain our goal and make them hear our voice