“Once a calamity is over, forget about it”, appears to be the sacred protocol followed by Egyptians in the face of any national disaster. No matter how predictable it is, official paralysis more often than not grips the entire nation as it stands powerless to avert or deal with a disaster once it strikes. Worse, we obviously do not learn from past experience.
Since 1994
The recent flash floods which hit Aswan, the Red Sea coast and Sinai—with devastating consequences—brought to mind the 1994 floods which hit the Assiut village of Dronka and the Luxor village of Gurna. In November that year, torrential rains fell upon Gabal Assiut al-Gharbi (Assiut Western Mountain) and swept over the village of Dronka which was randomly built on the natural watercourse. On their way, the rains hit an oil tanker train transporting oil from a nearby refinery. The vicious impact caused the fuel to ignite, and Dronka was completely destroyed by the fire-laden rain. More than 200 people lost their lives.
That year Gurna also met a similar destiny; it was washed out by torrential rains.
The rains were—and are—no surprise. Even though they are not common occurrences, the sites and the times during which they hit are predictable and easily forecast. Yet back then in 1994, no man-made drainage channels had been dug to divert the watercourse away from the villages. The disaster drew public fury since the lives lost and the damage done could have been spared. Official decisions were taken to build drainage channels in the sites of torrential rains and to keep them in proper shape. The water, moreover, was to be stored for agricultural use.
A decision was taken to ban any infringement on the man-made channels.
Toothless decisions
The recent disaster however, proved that the decisions were toothless. The man-made drainage channels were blocked with buildings—some of them government-owned—and garbage dumps. No maintenance had been applied to keep the courses clean in order to secure the quality of the trapped water if it was to be later used for agriculture. Obviously, long-term planning to avert a calamity was thrown to the wind.
According to the Cabinet, the initial loss in Aswan, North and West Sinai amounts to EGP400 million. Some 1130 houses were washed away and 345 were partially destroyed. Ninety-seven roads were damaged, 7,233 feddans of agricultural lands were drowned, 82 electricity towers were torn down, and to 13,000 olive trees, palms and citrus trees were ripped. The losses of factories that halted production because of the rains amounted to EGP20 million. The total cost of repairing the electricity towers, the water, drainage and gas stations alone amounts to EGP100 million.
On the short-term, weather forecast expert Wahid Seoudi told Watani that the authorities had been warned of last month’s heavy rains 72 hours before they struck. Yet no precautionary measure was taken, he said. “The entire disaster could have been spared had the drainage channels and watercourses been properly maintained,” he said. “And the water could have come in handy for agriculture use instead of being flushed into the sea or the river.”
Devastating
There are 95 drainage channels in Egypt, according to a 2008 statistics by the Ministry of Water Resources which is responsible for their maintenance and cleanliness.
Sherif Hafez, professor of political science, says it is true that few natural disasters strike Egypt but, when one does strike, its impact is devastating. In case of torrential rains, he explains, not only can drainage channels channel the flow and avert disaster, but they can also act as huge water receptacles to allow the storage of huge amounts of water. Topographic maps are available to determine the best channel paths, and weather forecasting is on hand to foretell the rains.
“It is a case of gross mismanagement,” Dr Hafez says. “It is not a natural disaster; it is a clear cut case of man-made disaster. The history of Egypt’s crisis management since the 1950s speaks for itself: declarations on needed reform, made in the wake of disasters, vanish into thin air as soon as the dust settles. Even from an economic point of view, added Hafez, the cost of establishing drainage channels all over Egypt is definitely less than the loss in lives and the cost of rebuilding the damage. Thus abstaining from establishing the water channels is a waste of public funds.”