Authorities in Sharjah are calling on landlords and residents to ensure child safety standards are upheld in old apartment buildings.
The municipality launched a week-long campaign aimed at increasing safety in residential buildings to avoid fatal falls from high-rise buildings.
The drive follows a history incidents whereby unsupervised children accidentally fell to their deaths.
In November last year, a five-year-old girl fell from an eighth floor flat in Al Mamzar.
Nine months earlier, a three-year-old girl fell to her death from a window of the 11th-floor family flat in Jamal Abdul Naser Street.
In 2016, two children died in separate accidents after falling from high-rise buildings in Sharjah.
A four-year-old Arab girl fell to her death from a tower in Al Majaz after climbing on a chair to close the window and a two-and-a-half-year-old Asian girl died after falling from a window of a seventh-floor apartment in Al Qasimya.
Soon after, some residents increased precautions by installing grilles or extra locks on their windows and balcony doors.
“We aim to educate residents about the importance of making balconies and windows safer for their children,” said Thabet Salim, municipality director, on the new campaign.
Mr Salim advised landlords to ensure all windows are raised at least 120cm from the ground to keep them out of reach of chidren.
Thousands of brochures with safety tips will be distributed during the campaign.