Massive boulders which crashed down on the impoverished shanty town of
At least eight boulders, some weighing more than 200 tons, peeled away from the towering Muqattam cliffs and buried 50 homes in the sprawling slum.
The narrow streets of the densely populated shanty town as well as a bordering railroad track made it difficult to get heavy recovery machinery into the area to move the huge boulders. More than 24 hours after the incident, rescue operations were still being carried out largely by hand. Authorities had to demolish some buildings and cut through a railway embankment to clear the way for the heavy equipment.
Critical
Opposition and independent papers were sharply critical of the government’s slow handling of the relief operation.
The government provided tents and necessary services for the residents, but many did not take advantage of them, preferring to sleep in the open or with neighbours.
“We are following the case step by step and providing the care and comfort for the residents,” Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif said in a statement. “We would like to remind people of the danger of building informal housing in dangerous areas.” The comment predictably sparked the ire of the opposition with the Cairo daily al-Dostour placing the blame squarely on the government’s shoulders for turning a blind eye to the illegal building activity then, later on when the area became a full-fledged slum, providing it with services.
The slums of Duweiqa and Manshiyet Nasser at the base of the cliffs were built by migrants from the countryside looking for work in Cairo which, with its 17 million-strong population, suffers a severe housing shortage.
The government is evacuating the entire area because of fears that more cliffs might tumble down.
The danger
The tragedy was the latest disaster to stir public anger at a government widely accused of negligence. MP Haidar Boghdadi who represents the area said that despite warnings that the cliffs might collapse, the government failed to deliver on promises to relocate residents.
Duweiqa residents said they did not believe the new houses existed or thought that one needed to pay a bribe to obtain one.
Rock slides periodically take place on the edges of the brittle limestone Muqattam hills. In 1993, 30 people were killed in another rock slide in the same area. But the residents whose homes survived the disaster stayed on.
Abul-Ela Amin Mohamed, the head of the earthquake department at the National Research Institute for Astronomy and Geophysics, said the entire plateau remains in danger of further collapse.
“It is not the first time nor will it be the last,” he said. “The area is full of densely packed informal housing with no central sewer system. When the sewage touches the fragile surface of the limestone, it changes its consistency into a flour-like paste.”