Muscat: A shopping mall in the city accommodated hundreds of residents of Almouj at a time when the cyclone Shaheen wreaked havoc in the city.
Mall of Oman, the newest addition to Oman’s retail horizon, was home for families and their pets during difficult times.
They were given sleeping bags, three-time meals, entertainment, telecommunication facilities, and TV channels along with kids programmes and kids play areas.
“We were happy to have housed the residents of Almouj inside the Mall of Oman and all the residents who were given shelter for days, were happy and thankful’’, Salma al Hashemi, Vice-President, Marketing, Almouj said.
Besides ensuring their safety, teams of Almouj and Mall of Oman stayed with those inside the mall to make sure that they were ‘not alone’.
“A big thank you to the Mall of Oman team’’, an Almouj resident shared on social media.
“Though Omani hospitality doesn’t need my praises, the team there was on their toes providing us with everything that we needed’’, the message read. “We actually preferred it over a hotel because we trust the authorities more, just in case if things go south, and we are very glad we did.”
“We were very well fed, provided with sleeping bags, made a few friends as well. Also, there were toys for the kids and movies and popcorn. I wish I can individually thank the country and the people there’’, a resident said.
About the safety of the mall during natural adversity, Salma said the management had consulted the NCEM authorities beforehand to check if they could be housed at the mall.
“We had consulted the authorities before housing the residents at the mall. It was only after the geographical positioning of the mall was given a go ahead by the authorities that we went ahead with the decision because, it’s all about the lives of hundreds of people’’, Al Hashmi added.
“As Cyclone Shaheen hit, we sheltered over 110 people at Mall of Oman, ensuring their utmost safety and wellbeing,” said Husam al Mandhari, Director of Shopping malls in Oman at Majid Al Futtaim Properties.
“We would like to thank our everyday superheroes at the mall and at Al Mouj Muscat including the security and operations teams as well as our colleagues at Carrefour, who provided refreshments and blankets,” he added.
The joint initiative by the Almouj and the Mall of Oman has been praised by people on social media handles, lauding their efforts as ‘a highly humanitarian approach’ that sets an example in how we should weave human to human connections not only at times of adversities but even after.
