The Grand Mosque will have emergency doors that will be ready around-the-clock for any emergency situation, Makkah daily reported on Tuesday quoting sources of the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques The sources said the presidency has formed a specialized committee to study the project and decide the locations of the doors. They said the committee, which consists of specialists in a number of fields, will hold its first meeting during the coming weeks to provide the presidency with a clear-cut visualization on the project. The sources said the committee will discuss the number of doors to be assigned for emergency situations and their distribution in the Haram according to the needs. They added that the committee will also consider methods of making the emergency doors distinguished from the other normal doors. According to the sources, the emergency doors will expedite the exiting of worshipers in case of emergency, facilitate fast evacuation, used to take dead bodies into the Grand Mosque for funeral prayers, reduce congestion on Fridays and Eid days and will also be used for the entry of maintenance equipment into the Grand Mosque. The presidency, on the other hand, announced that the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman has given his royal consent for the renewal of the marble of the lower wall of the Kaaba and the wall of the Black Stone. Presidency's chief Sheikh Abdulrahman Al-Sudais, said the marble on the lower wall and the Black Stone has decayed, became yellowish and can no longer be cleaned by washing. Engineers said the lower wall will be temporarily fenced off until the new marble is installed. They said this will not hamper the circumambulation around the House of God which continues for 24 hours a day throughout the year.
