2012 Riyadh Oil Truck Explosion
Natural and Man-made Disasters
" 2012 Riyadh oil truck explosion "
By
Ali M. AlAwami
I. INTRODUCTION Traffic accidents are one of the most dangerous events as they can cause a large number of casualties and property damages. These accidents may happen anywhere in the world and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is no exception to this universal problem. As noted by Joffe-Walt, during 2008 to 2009 traffic accidents were the first main cause of road fatalities, it was more than 485,000 traffic accidents. In facts, more than 36,000 were injured and 6,485 citizen have had died. This report will discuss the tragic event which happened in November 2012 in Riyadh. This disaster took many lives and costed a lot of money, as mentioned above these kind of explosions might happen anytime and anywhere especially in petroleum countries such as Saudi Arabia so this report is going to focus on this example to know the main factors of it and some possible solutions.
II. THE ACCIDENT
A. Overview of the Place of Explosion:
1. Congestion: Khurais Road is located in the eastern part of Riyadh . It is one of the most crowded roads (Witt) and it is a heavily populated area as well (Silverio). However, the road was still busy when the blast happened during Eid Al-Adha holiday but the crowd was slightly lighter than the other days (Witt).
2. Bad Roads: As mentioned in the Saudi Gazette report , Saudi roads are ranked the most dangerous roads in the world with an average of 19 deaths daily. According to Zeina Nazer, managing director of intelligent transport systems, “Although Saudi Arabia spends 6 billion US Dollars on the management of the car accidents and 250 million US Dollars on medical care for those injured on Saudi roads annually, the number of fatal road accidents had increased by 10% in 2012” (“Kingdom’s Roads”) .
3. Group of Trucks: Five Philippines were driving five different trucks that transport fuel.
" 2012 Riyadh oil truck explosion "
By
Ali M. AlAwami
I. INTRODUCTION Traffic accidents are one of the most dangerous events as they can cause a large number of casualties and property damages. These accidents may happen anywhere in the world and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is no exception to this universal problem. As noted by Joffe-Walt, during 2008 to 2009 traffic accidents were the first main cause of road fatalities, it was more than 485,000 traffic accidents. In facts, more than 36,000 were injured and 6,485 citizen have had died. This report will discuss the tragic event which happened in November 2012 in Riyadh. This disaster took many lives and costed a lot of money, as mentioned above these kind of explosions might happen anytime and anywhere especially in petroleum countries such as Saudi Arabia so this report is going to focus on this example to know the main factors of it and some possible solutions.
II. THE ACCIDENT
A. Overview of the Place of Explosion:
1. Congestion: Khurais Road is located in the eastern part of Riyadh . It is one of the most crowded roads (Witt) and it is a heavily populated area as well (Silverio). However, the road was still busy when the blast happened during Eid Al-Adha holiday but the crowd was slightly lighter than the other days (Witt).
2. Bad Roads: As mentioned in the Saudi Gazette report , Saudi roads are ranked the most dangerous roads in the world with an average of 19 deaths daily. According to Zeina Nazer, managing director of intelligent transport systems, “Although Saudi Arabia spends 6 billion US Dollars on the management of the car accidents and 250 million US Dollars on medical care for those injured on Saudi roads annually, the number of fatal road accidents had increased by 10% in 2012” (“Kingdom’s Roads”) .
3. Group of Trucks: Five Philippines were driving five different trucks that transport fuel.
Cited: "A Gas Tanker Explosion in Riyadh." Alriyadh Newspaper n.d., n. pag. Web. 4 May. 2013. <http://www.alriyadh.com/en/article/781150/a-gas-tanker-explosion-in-riyadh>. Al-Khotani , Saeed , and Mishal Al-Otaibi. "The Blast that Rattled Riyadh." SaudiGazette 2 Nov 2012, n. pag. Web. 23 Apr. 2013. <http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20121102141453>. Al-Sibai, Amal. "Saher, a Savior on the Kingdom’s Roads."SaudiGazette. 31 Jan 2012: n. page. Web. 3 May. 2013. <http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/ index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=20120131116662>. "Embassy to Aid of Filipino Facing Crash Probe." Gulf News Nov 07 2012. ProQuest. Web. 29 Mar. 2013 . <http://search.proquest.com/docview/ 1139104494?accountid=27795>. Joffe-Walt, Benjamin. "Saudi Arabia Has the Highest Road Accident Death Toll in the World." Green Prophet 15 Mar 2010, n. pag. Web. 2 May. 2013. <http://www.greenprophet.com/2010/03/ saudi-arabia-death-toll-driving/>. Khan, Ghazanfar. "Riyadh Road Turns into Death Trap."Arab News 2 Nov 2012, n. pag. Web. 23 Apr. 2013. <http://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/riyadh-road-turns-death-trap>. "Kingdom’s Roads among ‘the World’s Most Dangerous’."SaudiGazette 9 Nov 2012, n. pag. Web. 23 Apr. 2013. <http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/ index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20121109142219>. "Truck Driver in Deadly Riyadh Blast Blames Faulty Brakes - report." GMA NEWS 12 Nov 2012, n. pag. Web. 23 Apr. 2013. <http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/ story/281881/pinoyabroad/news/truck-driver-in-deadly-riyadh-blast-blames-faulty-brakes-report>.