Fire of Debnah Oasis (Socotra Archipelago)

Due to the long isolation of the Archipelago, Socotris had to look for food and medicine in entire Socotra. People from the coastal areas live on fish and dates grown in valleys and lagoons (Socotra is mostly dry so most of the valleys and lagoons are planted by trees), while shepherds count on meet, ghee and sour milk. Few of shepherds own Palm trees since they live in mountains and they don’t have sufficient amount of water for growing palm trees. Since dates are the main diet, during the harvest season, shepherds come to valleys and lagoons where dates are harvested asking for some dates to Survive. Dates became a main diet for Socotris: up to few years. Now they import food from the main land, however it still considered as one third of their income; they eat and sell it when needed.

Debnah Lagoon is one of the biggest; people from different villages grew ten thousands of palm trees there. On Saturday 18th of June, fire ignited in the oasis.

Location of Debnah Oasis:

Debnah Oasis is located about 14 kilometers North East from Hadiboh. It is at the very end of the 3Km long Delisha beach. Debnah lagoon is about 2 kilometers long, and it is home to birds (Socotra Scops Owl Otus 'socotranu' (ENDEMIC Resident breeder (Taxonomy under review)…etc), crabs and insects.

 Famous legend of Debnah Oasis.

The Islanders store palm dates in goats’ and sheep’s skins which could keep it eatable for years.

During the reign of Sultans, every family had to give a part of their harvest to the Sultan. The Sultan asked Sheikhs of shepherd’s tribes to supply him with goat skins to store the dates. In one of those seasons, he asked one of the sheikhs to provide him with 100 skins. The Sheikh didn’t have that amount of skins, however the sultan insisted on his request and informed the Sheikh that he needs them for Debnah Oasis harvesting. The Sheikh killed one hundred goats and prayed to his God to reduce numbers of palm dates in Debnah Oasis. Since then till now, 100 palm dates die every year in Debnah Oasis.

Fire in the Oasis:

When nearly harvest date, people clean their orchards. One of Debnah women as other Socotri women planned to clean her orchard. On Saturday 18th of June, 2011 at 10 am, she asked some of her female friends to help her in cleaning her orchard. While she was preparing a lunch to eat inside the garden, a strong wind blew fire towards one of her palm trees (The windy season starts in Socotra each year from beginning of June till the end of August and the wind speed reaches up to 65 knots per hour). They tried to extinguish it using sands, but unfortunately that they didn’t manage.

Fire was spreading from one palm tree to another starting from the South West of the fire point. They called for help from their village which is about 900 Meters to the South East of the orchard.

Call for help: Debnah community is calling all those who want to help the affected families to send it directly to their own account:

Bank Name: National Bank Of Yemen

Account name: Debnah Community Fund

Account No: 26211

You can contact Goman Ahmed - Chairman of Debnah Community Fund- directly on 777552571.