The Qatar fire has united us in anger and in grief This morning, I packed my son's bags for nursery with a heavy heart. As my husband and son left in the car, I fought the urge to grab them, bring them back inside and lock the door. All morning, I checked my phone incessantly for urgent messages. Naturally, I was behaving irrationally. I'm willing to bet, however, that I'm not the only parent in Doha who felt this way. I reckon not many of us had much sleep last night, either. Every time I closed my eyes I was haunted by the shocking images I'd seen, and far worse, the images I hadn't seen but could only imagine. Every time I saw a discarded toy, shoe or sock in a forgotten corner of our house, I thought of the parents who were returning home to hundreds of objects like these, never to be used again. I was glad when dawn came. I'm a member of a group called Doha Mums, which has over 1,000 members, all expat mothers like me. The group has a busy forum which is usually full of posts like requests for advice on the best hospitals to give birth at, the right shop to go to for imported baby food, and child-friendly holiday destinations. Today, the day after the fire at Villagio Mall, it's full of messages of condolence, offers of help to grieving families, requests for information on where to buy smoke detectors, and discussions on safety at our children's nurseries and schools. I always tell people that Qatar is one of the safest places I've ever lived, and by that I've always meant that there's very little crime here, and that we never feel threatened. Now I realise that this warm, friendly environment has lulled me into a false sense of security when it comes to our safety. How could I only have just asked the nursery school management today about their evacuation plans? Why hadn't we asked about fire safety procedures when we looked round initially? My relief at discovering today that they have a fire escape right next to our son's classroom was incredible. Why hadn't I seen it before? I just didn't think I needed to. I've just received an email from my son's nursery detailing their plans, the equipment they have, and plans for more frequent fire drills. Most of my friend's children's nurseries have done the same. My fellow Doha Mums members all woke up with a collective thought this morning: that we must do what we can to make Qatar a safer place. The look on the faces of the nursery staff suggested they'd also come to work determined to do the same. This afternoon, people are meeting in our largest park to remember the dead and show our support for those who are grieving. It seems that all those killed in the fire were expats, not an unlikely statistic in a country where locals are very much in the minority. Still, the effect of the tragedy is being felt across the whole community, local and expat alike. The deaths of 19 innocent souls in an accident which many feel was entirely avoidable have brought a country - so often divided by nationality and faith - together. We are united by our anger, and our grief.