Went to Dubai Mall SO very early this morning to attend a Visual Merchandising training that the franchise partner was holding for their store teams. It was great to see how they train their people and see all the store leaders together. We were at starbucks having a break and talking when a guy was walking around telling everyone they needed to evacuate the mall. It was weird because there weren't any alarms, no security doing anything- nothing. But by the time he got to us the alarms had gone off and it was saying "A threat has been detected in your area. Evacuate Immediately." So we picked up our stuff, all looked at each other and picked up the pace. As we went to leave the main entrance with the big dome had been blocked and everyone was being directed down the back stairways and out of the mall. Which by the way- is the biggest mall in the world- so it was a lot of people- even in the not busy area that we were in. As we got outside there were police, fire, and ambulance, and the highway ramps had police on them, and there were "crisis team" members directing us where to go. It was pretty unreal- and I have to say scary. Luckily there was a group of us together- I felt really bad for the tourists and people that were alone! We were all taken across the street from the mall to wait. It was also very hot today- HOT- 100+ degrees at 11am when all this was happening and there isn't much shade out there. After about a 1/2 hr a truck showed up with bottles of water for the crowds, and we just stood there watching firefighters go in and paramedics, and security was everywhere scurrying around in and out of the mall. After almost an hour we were allowed to re-enter the mall. Nothing was mentioned about what it was, or what happened- but again the mall is huge so it could have been on the other side or even a different corridor and we wouldn't have seen it. We all just went back in, stores re-opened and the fun and games continued like nothing happened.
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