Joud Al-Amri Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — Residents are calling for stricter measures to be implemented to regulate the safety of gas cylinder shops following the explosion in Riyadh that left many people dead and injured late last week. Gas cylinder shops are located in the middle of neighborhoods. People are afraid a similar disaster that might happen and cause huge damage to neighborhoods nearby. Many people are calling on local authorities to relocate these shops to areas outside the city. Mansour Abu Ahmad, a Saudi father of seven, said he was forced to move from his house on Makarona Road simply because there was a gas cylinder shop nearby. He said: “After the Al-Wazereya restaurant gas cylinder explosion, I was forced to move from my apartment that was near a gas cylinder shop. “I feared for the safety of my family. “If a gas cylinder can cause such damage, then what would happen if there was a large number of gas cylinders?” He urged local authorities to quickly relocate the gas cylinder shops outside the city, describing them as ticking time bombs. Salman Al-Zahrani, a Saudi living next to a gas cylinder shop, said the Riyadh explosion left many fearing what would happen if an explosion occurred in any of these shops. He said: “Some gas cylinder shops are located one meter away from residential homes. Most of these shops, however, lack safety measures. “I am sure that the workers are not trained well on how to deal with situations if there was a fire. “I remember a gas cylinder shop in Aziziah district few years ago that almost caught fire when a shop next door caught fire. “The workers inside the gas cylinder shop closed it down and escaped. “Imagine if there was a fire and a gas cylinder exploded. “It would have triggered a series of explosions and many lives would have been be lost.” Hasan Al-Qahtani, a Jeddah resident, said two places he cannot live next to are gas stations and gas cylinder shops. He added: “In America, there are strict safety measures applied to gas stations, the workers are trained to deal with emergency cases and there are periodic inspections by officials. “Here, whether it's a gas station or gas cylinder shop, I do not think the workers are trained nor do I think the place is safe. “Not only that, but the way the gas cylinders are transported is another major concern. “There will be a huge disaster if one of the trucks was involved in a traffic accident. It could be similar to the gas explosion in Riyadh.”
