Banex bombing

Just a quick post to say that we're all fine and thank you to everyone that has emailed. The bomb that went off this afternoon near the Banex shopping plaza was pretty worrying for us - it is fairly close to where we live, and not far from Alex's school. I actually heard the blast from the office, but was feeling so relaxed and pleased to be back in Abuja that I put it down to a larger-than-usual blast from the local quarry, which does sometimes overdo the dynamite.

Horrific as the incident was - and unspeakably awful for those caught up in it, and their families - people seem to be generally less shaken than the previous bombings. We had to stay put in the office until we got the all-clear, but there didn't seem to be the sense of fear that there had been with the Nyanya bombings. Perhaps this had something to do with preparedness - whilst it was shocking that this blast occurred in central Abuja, it doesn't feel like a massive surprise that the capital has been targeted again, knowing how the Boko Haram campaign has been intensifying over recent weeks (there was a bomb at the School of Hygiene in Kano on Monday, another 90-odd people abducted in Borno this week and a bomb in a market in Adamawa this afternoon). But the timing was also a factor - the bomb went off shortly after 4pm, and Nigeria were due to kick-off in their World Cup game against Argentina at 5pm. So actually whilst we were on lock-down in the office, staff were more concerned about ensuring they weren't missing the match than about the implications of the bombing. And the bomb scene apparently cleared very quickly - usually one might expect crowds to gather and hang around for some time, but this wasn't the case today as everyone disappeared to go and watch the football. 

I returned home by about 5.30pm to find Alex and Freya in rambunctious mood. Completely oblivious to the severity of the security situation, they took great delight in showing me their new trick of 'face-planting' (see Facebook for the video). I then took Alex out to the guard house to watch the second half of the football (we didn't renew our TV subscription so need to beg a favour if we want to follow the football), which was a great diversion. And then we welcomed a friend who has arrived to stay this evening - and suddenly life seems relatively normal again. We'll have to see what the fallout is tomorrow, but tonight I'm not feeling particularly shaken myself. Instead, I just keep thinking about all the poor people who were so indiscriminately and unfairly killed or injured, and all those in the emergency services who risk their lives to help them.