Recalling that a prominent Saudi cleric declared the tsunami of 2004 to be a punishment from God for fornication and homosexuality in south-east Asia, I had been wondering what religious folk would make of the castrophic floods that hit Saudi Arabia last week – during the annual pilgrimage, of all times – killing more than 100 people.

Trawling around the internet, I found that Daniel Martin Varisco,writing on the Tabsir blog, had got there first with an interesting discussion of religious attitudes to natural disasters, and whether a morally indignant God might have any part in them:

Those who believe that their God is not asleep at the cosmic wheel might be tempted to see the timing and severity [of the Saudi floods] as a sign of divine wrath. Pat Robertson would no doubt suggest that his God has sent the heavy rains to teach those pesky Muslims a lesson, as in the days of yore when the God of Moses and Joshua zapped the pagan Canaanites (who perpetrated the very first intifada in the Holy Land). Osama bin Laden, from his hidden cave in Swat or wherever, is no doubt thrilled that Allah has taken to task the infidel-backed Saudi princes who deign to consider themselves regents of the two holy cities.

Varisco's blog, incidentally, also has a remarkable old photo of floods in Mecca in 1941 – with people swimming around the Kaaba.

Despite a claim by Adel Zamzami, head of Jeddah's Civil Defence Department, that last week's death and destruction was "God's power", the general reaction has been one of anger rather than fatalistic acceptance. Government mismanagement is being blamed for the floods, if not for the rain itself. "What happened was a man-made problem," said a headline in Friday's Arab News.

Newspapers are asking questions and, for once, they are not prepared to be fobbed off. In an interview with the Saudi Gazette, the mayor of Jeddah is given what (by Saudi standards) is a pretty tough grilling.

In the space of three days, more than 11,000 people havesigned up to a Facebook page calling for government action.

"We've been talking about this issue for years. Everybody knew this disaster was coming. We've seen something like this on a smaller scale," Saud Kateb, a professor who is one of the internet protesters, told AFP. "There's only one reason: it's corruption," he said. "The government is putting a lot of budget into this, and the budget just disappears."

There's also much talk of legal action and claiming compensation. Lawyer Waleed Abu al-Khair, who is planning to file a case this week, insisted that "everyone who has been involved in this chaos must be sued", according to Arab News.

"They didn't make the drainage work. They have told us for three years or more that it has been completed," he told AFP. "Even people from the city government said there were mistakes."

The real issue here, though, is not one city's failed drains but a lack of accountability. The foundation on which most Arab regimes are based – that the authorities know best and should be unquestioningly allowed to get on with running things – is being challenged in Jeddah on a massive scale.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 30 November 2009.