Fire-hit residents seek refund

Water and electrocity supply to the fire-hit Al Aneeqa building in Al Nahda has been restored and residents have been allowed back in, but several of them spent their second night outside in hotels, hotel apartments, in cars and with their friends or relatives.

They said the smell of a gutted building and lack of gas supply, made it unbearable to live in as yet.

Residents who spoke to Emirates 24|7 said they are reconsidering their stay in the one-year-old building because they feel that it is not safe to live in high rise apartments without sufficient security against fire and such emergencies.

Not only residents of Al Aneeqa tower, but those in other high-rise buildings are also worried about fire safety and security. Life is limping back to normalcy but not for people who lived in the flats burnt by the fire. One flat in each of the 17 floors (from eighth floor onwards) is badly burnt.

Mary Custodio, an office administrator, living on the fourth floor, said many of her Filipino neighbours are thinking or relocating to a safer building after they lost everthing - furniture, household appliances and clothes in the fire. Her husband, Cyrus Custodio was outside when the fire erupted.

“Some Filipino families who lived on the upper floors have lost everything There are more than 10 Filippino families living here. They were hanging around the building until late night on Wednesday to see whether they could go back to their flats or get refund of their rents,” she said.

“We lived in the fourth floor and our immediate neighbours are not much affected. However, there was no gas connection and due to bad odour, many people did not like stay in the building. Those living on upper floors were waiting outside because the lift was not repaired. We came back to the building and stayed there after cleaning our house. Our Internet connection, water and electricity was normal on Wednesday night,” she said.

“I am happy that my baby and old mother were sent back to the Philippines a few days ago. My mother used to say that she is scared to live in the building because every day there is a fire alarm. We have just paid our last installment of rent and we will not renew our contract,” she said, adding that many of her Filipino friends in the building were looking for a refund. 

The building is hardly one year old, but the fire alarm system did not work and the security guard or residents did not know how to open even the fire extinguishers. The emergency exits of the building were also blocked, making life difficult for residents to escape during the fire.

“We were lucky to have kept some clothes in the backside of our vehicle. Now we will go back to our house and wait for the gas connection,” she said adding that two nights they spent outside.

“It is no more safe to live in the upper floors of this building. Even though we are living on the fourth floor, we need a lift, which was not working until last night,” said another resident.

“One flat in each floor is damaged by the fire. Our room is not affected by the fire, but the water used to control the fire damaged everything in the house. Due to smoke smell we did not live there yesterday and today we are yet to decide whether to go back to the building. Two days we stayed outside with my friends and on Sunday my son Aditya needs to resume school,” said Sajith, who lived on the tenth floor.

“We are living with the relatives, but we cannot continue to stay there, because it will put pressure on their family life,” he added.

“Tenants are coming back from vacation and they don’t have sufficient money to relocate to new places. We did not have money to stay in a hotel accommodation,” he added.

Osman Sabah, who lived on the 21st floor had his family rescued by a helicopter. “I have just cancelled my contract now. I will not stay here anymore,” he said.

A five member African family that lived on the 13th floor spend two nights at a hotel apartment in Deira, and they have not got any money from the building owner. “We have tried to locate a cheap hotel apartment and ultimately we had to pay Dh250 per night. Altogether we spend Dh500 for two nights and I don’t know how long we can spend that much money for staying outside.“

“There was no water, no lift or air conditioner, so I decided to go back to the hotel apartment again. The building owner should give us refund, but he is not answering our calls,” said Ala, another resident.