A citizen in Dammam has paid out of his own pocket to number graves here, to ease visits for the families of the deceased.

A Saudi citizen has numbered 10,000 graves at Dammam Cemetery out of his own pocket to help people find the resting places of their loved ones.

Tariq Al-Zaidi, a retired Saudi Aramco employee, has set up the numbers on metal plates at each grave, which are then recorded in a database that people can access. The entire layout of numbers can be seen at the entrance of the cemetery.

“The initiative aims to document about 10,000 graves in the Eastern Province and ease visits,” said Al-Zaidi. He said the idea has been successfully applied in some cemeteries in Riyadh and Qassim. The Dammam initiative is supported by the local municipality and took six months.

Citizens have lauded the idea because many had not been able to find the graves of family members.

Saleh Al-Dosari said he was able to identify his father’s grave thanks to Al-Zaidi’s initiative. Another citizen said: “I placed a stone in front of the grave of my mother, but when I returned I failed to find it. This has happened to other people too.”

Spokesman for the Eastern Province mayoralty Mohammed Al-Sufaian, said Dammam municipality has supported the initiative.

“The municipality should establish a supervisory unit to honor the dead, oversee the digging of graves and numbering of the rows,” Al-Sufaian said.

He said there should also be an information office set up to guide visitors at specific hours.

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