EGYPT: Government unprepared for urban disasters

Local residents flock to the area where a rockslide killed at least 30 people and injured many others

CAIRO, 7 September 2008 (IRIN) - Just a few days after a fire engulfed the upper house of parliament in the heart of Cairo, the city witnessed another calamity on 6 September when a rockslide buried 50 houses in a shanty town on the east side of the capital. The crises have highlighted the government’s poor urban planning and lack of adherence to safety measures, observers say.

Security officials said about eight boulders weighing about 60 tonnes each fell on al-Duweqa shanty district in eastern Cairo, which is part of al-Moqattam hills on the edge of the city. So far, more than 30 people have died and tens wounded, while dozens remain under the debris of their collapsed houses, according to local residents. The affected area was estimated to be about 60 metres wide and 15 metres long.

“My wife’s family lives in al-Duweqa,” said Talaat Kamal, a young man living in the nearby Manshiyyit Nasser, to the west of al-Moqattam hills. “Our family is okay, luckily, but people are traumatised, crying and shouting. The crisis happened early in the morning and during Ramadan [the Muslim month of fasting]; people do not leave their houses until late in the day. This increased the number of casualties.”

While police cordoned off the area, no heavy rescue machinery was seen by witnesses until late in the day. When it arrived, it was not used for fear of causing further damage. According to Kamal, local residents tried to remove the rocks collectively, but to no avail.
The Association for the Protection of the Environment (APE) and a group of local NGOs were on hand at the site with volunteers. “Thirteen of our youth were distributing water all day long [on 6 September]. Today [7 September], we’re going again with other volunteers to distribute food,” said Ezzat Naim, head of the APE.

As the health centres in al-Duweqa and Manshiyyit Nasser did not have the necessary emergency facilities to cope with a large number of injured people, patients were transferred to al-Hussein and al-Zahraa hospitals, 10-minute drives away. “Many of the ambulances are not ready to receive people wounded. And doctors and nurses are not available in the ambulances to help those affected,” said Sabah Mohammed, one of the volunteers taking part in relief work in the area.

The low-lying areas surrounding al-Moqattam hills house thousands of very poor migrants from the countryside who have created an urban sprawl, particularly in the areas of Manshiyyit Nasser and al-Duweqa. The former has traditionally been home to the city’s garbage collectors, while the latter houses menial workers.

Fears over government housing project

In al-Duweqa, a government-sponsored housing project is being built with the aim of relocating slum dwellers there but local residents complain that they have been kept in the dark over the plans and have attributed construction delays to municipal corruption.

“A slum side by side with a government-sponsored housing project shows you how urban planning is poor and marred with corruption. We came to Cairo hoping to find a living. We didn’t figure that even here there’s death waiting for us,” said Rizk, a local resident, reminiscing over a 1993 rockslide in the area that also killed 30 people.

Failures in long-term planning aside, the recent rockslide tragedy has yet again raised tempers among the populace about the government’s slow rescue response. Two weeks earlier, an inadequate and slow response to the fire in the upper house of parliament allowed the fire to spread to neighbouring buildings.

SOURCE:IRIN