By means of Nawara Fattahova
KUWAIT: 4 days after a blaze tore thru Souq Mubarakiya, site visitors there may be lighter than standard. The stench of burned subject matter nonetheless hangs within the air, despite the fact that the hearth used to be extinguished days in the past. When Kuwait Occasions visited, some homeowners of the gutted retail outlets have been looking at bulldozers disposing of the particles, with the hope they are able to nonetheless salvage some pieces.
Some of the shopkeepers, who didn’t wish to be named, evaluated his losses at round KD 100,000. “I had two retail outlets with bukhoor (incense) and perfumes, which have been destroyed within the blaze. I misplaced all of the contents of each retail outlets, price KD 100,000. It’s not that i am insured, however I’m hoping the management of the marketplace will be capable to compensate us in many ways,” he advised Kuwait Occasions.
In line with him, all retail outlets had fireplace extinguishers, however as the hearth resulted from a powerful explosion in probably the most fragrance retail outlets, they couldn’t even use the extinguishers. “We didn’t also have the danger to take any items from the shop. Lets most effective run to save lots of our lives,” the store proprietor rued.
Farouq is the landlord of a shop promoting make-up and skin care merchandise close to the scorched house, however within the basement. “I’m happy the firemen may extinguish the hearth prior to it reached the basement the place our retailer is situated. Thankfully, I didn’t lose any items, however because of safety causes and the positioning of the shop, the police have closed the basement for now until the whole thing is wiped clean. So I’m nonetheless dealing with losses for having my retailer closed,” he stated.
Mohammed Al-Rifai, proprietor of a fragrance retailer at the adjoining Gharabally Side road, complained of a loss of shoppers. “Just a few shoppers move by means of my store. This isn’t even 1 / 4 of the standard selection of shoppers right through this era. This has sharply affected my gross sales. Most of the people suppose the entire Souq Mubarakiya has burned down and there aren’t any retail outlets open, after what they noticed on social media. However this isn’t true, as most effective part of the marketplace used to be destroyed,” he stated.
Lena, a saleslady at a clothes shop reverse the gutted house, described her worry right through the inferno ultimate week. “I used to be truly scared after I noticed the hearth, which nearly reached our retailer, and I will’t fail to remember that scene. We have been fortunate that it didn’t achieve our retailer. Sadly, our gross sales had been strongly affected, as folks aren’t coming to Mubarakiya. Other folks suppose this position is closed, and only some individuals are coming right here,” she stated.
