RESIDENTS IN LIMBO AND ANGRY AFTER DUBAI’S ZEN TOWER BLAZE
▶ Tenants have no passports or possessions and no one to give them answers,
Confusion was turning to anger yesterday as residents of Zen Tower were left with unanswered questions as to when they may be allowed back into the fire-ravaged building to retrieve possessions.
Strong winds fanned flames that engulfed the Dubai Marina residential block on Sunday morning, causing obvious damage to the first five floors in particular.
Many more levels are likely to have suffered smoke damage.
As police restrict access to the burnt-out building, hotels continue to offer temporary accommodation to those affected.
Scottish hairdresser Shelley Douglas, 31, lives on the building’s seventh floor with her cousin. She was at a health and safety course when the fire broke out.
“I’ve lost iPads, iPhones, jewellery and clothes – everything,” Ms Douglas said. “I’ve been trying to call the facility manager and Rera [Dubai’s Real Estate Regulatory Agency] to find out what we have to do, but no one is answering my calls.
“Everyone is confused and it is hugely frustrating. My cousin is travelling tomorrow and has lost everything he owns. He has no passport and has lost all his camera equipment.”
Prateek, 31, owns a flat on the second floor where he has
lived with his wife and mother since October 2016. Like more than 130 people, they are now staying at the Ghaya Grand in Sports City.
“I need to get hold of our passports and medicine for my wife,” he said. “We’ve had hardly any information and the building management has not been responding to my calls.
“I’ve heard that we will be given food and accommodation for three days but that’s it. I’ve no idea what we will do next. It has been very confusing.”
The National tried to contact the Zen Tower facility manager but like many residents was unable to reach him.
The Ghaya Grand was the first hotel to offer temporary accommodation to residents forced to move out, with buses arriving to take them away within two hours of the fire starting.
A similar gesture was made by Al Fey Road hotel when the Torch residential tower caught fire last year.
“The calmer you are to help these people get away and into somewhere clean and safe for two or three days, the better it is for everyone,” said Olwin Desouza, general manager of the Ghaya Grand.
“Our job is to serve the community and these people needed our help. This could have happened to any of us. Our managers have been in this situation before, so they knew how to handle those residents who were upset and crying.”
Mr Desouza learnt of the fire on social media about 11am and asked his team to arrange for buses to collect the scores of residents on the street outside the smouldering Zen Tower.
Some residents said they were being led to believe their free stay would last just two days, after which they would have to leave or start paying.
“There have been so many fires recently in these residential buildings, but people still don’t know their rights and where they stand legally when things go wrong,” one resident said.
They said neither they nor police appeared to know who owned the building or “who we should be speaking to”.
One hotel, the nearby Wyndham Dubai Marina, has been accepting donations of clothes, bed linen and non-perishable goods to offer those who have lost possessions in the fire.
The hotel has since offered to share the load with the Ghaya Grand and take on some of the residents that were moved there, as well as offering free meals.
“I was in my office when I was told of the fire. I thought this can’t be possible as it is so close to our hotel,” Wyndham hotel manager Agusti Curto Calbet said.
“It was a very complicated situation, two or three hours of chaos. I had to physically go to the street and tell the police and civil defence that we wanted to help.”
The hotel has received more than 20 bags of donated items.
“The people were very confused. They had no ID or personal belongings and did not know what was going to happen next,” Mr Calbet said.
“We are all expats in this country, so the help from us was important. It is for as long as they need. This is not the easiest time of year to give over hotel rooms, because of Ramadan.
“We’ve done our bit and have been happy to contribute. I’m sure most other hotels faced the same issues as us. They didn’t know how to help.”
We’ve had hardly any information and the building management has not been responding to my calls RESIDENT OF ZEN TOWER