Fire Safety and Disaster Management Competency at Marriott Hotel Islamabad

September 24th, 2008 by Kashif Aziz ( 740 Views )

In the wake of the blast at Marriott Hotel Islamabad, while we reconsider our stance in so-called war-on-terror, we should also reflect on efficiency of our institutions, and compliance of disaster management competency in our infrastructure and human resources.

The CCTV footage of the blast at Marriott makes it evident that security personnel, though brave and courageous, were not trained to react in emergencies. They wasted precious time and, due to their inexperience, let the fire from front of the truck spread to explosives, causing the fateful explosion.

Moreover, the equipment and facilities inside the building were not in compliance of global hospitality standards. The basic principles of Fire Safety, that is, reduce the risk of fire breaking out, prevent the spread of flames and smoke, ensure that the occupants can be evacuated safely and, enable the emergency services to take action, were missing at Marriott disaster scene.

Dr Muhammad Ali, Incharge Rescue 1122 Rawalpindi team, shared his experience of fire fighting and rescue operations at Marriott Hotel with The Nation. He said they faced immense difficulties, as none of the facilities provided in mega structures like the Marriott Hotel for extinguishing fire were functional. He said the water sprinklers and fire extinguishers inside the hotel were rusty and outdated.

He said there was one basic fault in the very making of the building as there were no external ladders that could be helpful for the rescue workers to reach on top of the roof.

Mr. Bill Marriott, Chairman & CEO of Marriott International, is clearly unaware of lack of disaster management facilities at Marriott Hotel, Islamabad. I tried to point that out but my comments were not published at his blog.

Here is what I have written:

Dear Mr. Marriott,

This is indeed very sad and Pakistan had gone through further trauma and suffering, especially in the sacred month of Ramadan.

While I commend the courage and bravery of security personnel deployed at the barricades, the CCTV footage shows they lacked professionalism. The fire extinguishers were not handy and it took them so much time to arrange for the equipment that the fire reached from front to rear side of the truck, triggering the fatal explosion. Had they been trained to act in such situations, the tragedy might be avoided.

Also, due to lack of communication between guards and hotel front-office, people staying in the rooms or having their meals were not alerted. If there had been some sort of emergency siren and people have been informed to run out, those would have been saved that who succumbed to fire and post-blast hazards while trapped in their rooms or lobbies.

I request you to take this incident as an example and work with your associates to improve security and disaster management procedures.

My heartiest sympathies to those who lost their loved ones.

People want to know what caused more deaths at Marriott Hotel Islamabad? The Blast or Inefficient Disaster Management?

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 24th, 2008 and is filed under Current Affairs .

Tagged with: Bill Marriott, Islamabad, Marriott Hotel, Rescue 1122

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4 Responses to “Fire Safety and Disaster Management Competency at Marriott Hotel Islamabad”

1

Pingback: Marriott Tragedy: Give us heroes by WTF: What The Fork?
September 24th, 2008 22:22 GMT
2

Shakir Lakhani
September 25th, 2008 06:08 GMT
There are reports that the sucide bomber shouted at the security guards about the impending explosion and warned them to run for cover. Maybe this is one reason there was so much confusion mong the security personnel.
3

UJMi
September 26th, 2008 06:42 GMT
Shakir. There was no such warning from the “terrorist” as proven by the video of CCTV. It was the guards who were shouting for people to get away from the truck.
4

Sheyryar Sayyad Ul-Jaffary
September 26th, 2008 20:27 GMT
problem is that everything happened so fast….and during this month of Ramazan, with empty stomach the mind is not as alert as it normally is/should be

i still would hope that for the next few months, every landmark will consider itself a target and security would be on full alert….

being from an Army family — i have my biases and am happy that our country has been generous to our Armed Forces. But i think that we need to re-allign our budgets and focus on disaster management. We need proper fire brigades, emergency training etc.

The fact that the Mariott hotel did not meet fire regulations is alarming….but im sure that with the new replacement Marriot, all this will be taken into account..

And for GODS SAKES Pakistanis — isnt it about goddam time we destroy these taliban bastard people –and stop doing business with USA —-both are the cause of our misery!!!

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