Has Somalia learnt critical lessons after worst terror attack?

It’s two years since Somalia’s most devastating terrorist attack on October 14, 2017, in Mogadishu which killed more than 600 people and left many others injured or missing. As we mark this sad anniversary and send heartfelt condolences, we owe it to the victims to ask questions on the city’s preparedness to effectively respond to disasters of a similar or worse scale in the future.

I was the Mayor of Mogadishu and Governor of Benadir region when the horrific attacks occurred and I vividly recall the crisis that Mogadishu was plunged into. I was among the first to reach the scene having passed the spot only 10 minutes earlier, heading to the office. We realized quickly that our limited disaster response capacity was simply no match to the disaster and we resorted to mass mobilization of the people to support the disaster response.