Barbara Pletusha

These are areas where you do have some U.S.

economic interests.

Now, the Interior Ministry did not specify the areas when it put out the notice of the evacuations, but from what we understand were people received alerts.

One of them was the center of the city and a place called Mushareb.

So you have there companies like Google and American Express, also some Qatari government offices.

And then there is a place that is known as Education City.

It's a large 12-acre campus that also has a technical compound.

And there you have a presence of Microsoft.

And there were alerts there for evacuation as well, presumably because of the Microsoft office.

But there are also branches of six American universities there.

Well, we didn't get that information, but there have been evacuations here before.

There was a similar area-specific evacuation, I think, last week around the U.S.

Embassy, and the Qatari Interior Ministry has said that they provide places for them.

So they have a system for evacuations when they need to happen.

What we heard was that the evacuation order in Mushaida came through just after midnight, I think.

and people then rushed to underground car parks to take shelter because the alert said evacuate immediately to the nearest safe place.

And then we had that enormous explosion that echoed around the city just at 1.30 in the morning.

So that was an immediate threat, it seems.

But in terms of whether they have to stay longer before they can go back, I think the government is going to make arrangements for them.

Well, I think it's like everyone else.