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BBC At least 20 people have been killed by a rockslide which destroyed homes in Cairo, emergency services say.
Dozens of houses in the shanty town east of central Cairo were hit by huge boulders and rocks, reports said.
Witnesses said a six-storey building in the impoverished Duwayqa district below the Muqattam hills had been completely reduced to rubble.
Some people are believed to be still trapped in the rubble and police have cordoned off the are
Reports said that at least eight boulders - each estimated to weigh about 70 tonnes - had fallen from the towering cliffs overlooking the district at about 0900 local time (0700 GMT).
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The size of the boulders hampered initial rescue efforts
Hundreds of people have been crushed in their homes after a mountain landslide in a small town on the outskirts of Egypt's capital.
Officials said at least eight rocks, some measuring 30m high, had buried more than 50 homes in the poor district of Manshiyet Nasron on Saturday.
At least 18 people have been declared dead and 35 injured.
Some estimates put the number of buried at 500.
Police are still waiting for heavy machinery to lift the rocks, some weighing between 60 and 70 tons.
One witness said a six-storey building had been reduced to rubble by the impact.
Hassan Ibrahim Hassan, 80, whose house escaped the destruction, said: "It was horror. The power went out, we heard a loud bang like an earthquake, and I thought this house had collapsed.
"I went out and I saw the whole mountain had collapsed."
Manshiyet Nasron is notoriously overcrowded. Most of the apartment buildings provide families with only a single room.
The town's buildings are cramped at the base of the Mouqattum hills next to a main highway into Cairo.
Poverty and overcrowding
In a survey carried out by UN Habitat, a human settlement programme, Manshiyet Nasron is described as "the largest squatter/informal area in Cairo. There are 350,000 persons living in this area on about 850 acres with a gross residential density more than 400 persons/acre".
"The area is suffering from poor living qualities, inadequate services, lack of infrastructure, and deteriorated environmental conditions. The site is characterised by sharp contour variations ranging between 56 and 200m," the survey said.
In 2003, the housing ministry, under the auspices of the Suzanne Mubarak, the wife of the Egyptian president, launched a campaign to provide housing for some of the poorest Cairo residents, including in the affected town.
Slow response
Much of the digging is being done by hand by relatives and neighbours searching for survivors or bodies. Police have brought in sniffer dogs to locate the trapped.
Locals were enraged at what they saw as an inadequate government response.
Witnesses described hundreds of weeping and screaming family members cursing the local authorities and saying they had relatives and friends trapped beneath the rubble.
Hussein Abdul Ghani, Al Jazeera’s Egypt bureau chief, said: "Rescue teams and civil defence employees do not know what to do or how to rescue those trapped under the debris."
One man said to a policeman at the scene: "You've just got your hands in your pockets, you're not doing anything."
Parliament fire
A fire in Egypt's upper house of parliament in August, in which one person died, was fought by the military using helicopters.
Abdul Ghani said the cause of the landslide could have been from a contractor who was carrying out construction work at the top of the mountain.
Manshiyet Nasron residents had informed the authorities a year ago that there was a split between the rocks, a potential danger to the homes below.
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Was there a quake in the night, anyone feel anything, my husband is sure the bed was moving, i wasnt in it at the time so i didnt feel nothing. anyone feel any shaking?
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by thw way it was not mokatam its away from there its called naser and it is not the first time which happend there
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If you look at the news and all the hurricanes and earthquakes and landslides and stuff and think that if this stuff was all happening in biblical times, the people would be saying it was the wrath of God.
Nowadays people don't assume it is God.
We all prefer to blame global warming.
Do you think we are choosing to ignore the 'signs'?
and if we do believe it is the work of God, then why specific places and not others?
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quote:Originally posted by antably: by thw way it was not mokatam its away from there its called naser and it is not the first time which happend there
so is it not at the base of the Moqattam Hills then as the article say's? Posts: 3416 | Registered: Oct 2007
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"and if we do believe it is the work of God, then why specific places and not others? "
99% of these natural disasters affect the poor. Don't see Maadi getting buried under rubble any time soon.
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Yes i just got a breaking news email on this ,this is sad so sad and in the time of Ramadan so all good egyptians out there or not egyptian rally round and look after your brother and sisters .And pray for one prayer in this time is a life time of prayers . Allah bless all that is safe but remember dying in ramadan is enternal life .Still does not make anything better but my prayers are with them all .
-------------------- "Most men are accredited fools shortly after they leave the womb.” Posts: 1116 | From: WARNING All stressed out & no one to choke | Registered: Sep 2008
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very sad news, just watched Sky, they said official report 90 deaths - but their live report from location estimates about 500 people. My prayer goes to them.
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i think they are more than 500 people this area had got in it many people its like a very big village
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oh this is all so awful. I am gonna go switch on sky news now cos this is the 1st i have heard about it
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Sky news is saying 31 found dead but over 500 people expected to still be buried under the rubble. They dont know the cause but it was a landslide. What time did it fall does anyone know
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god bless all them this are is very poor most of the people there works with pigs they grow them up and sell them
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holy crap! i was up that mountain yesterday visiting family friends! soo scary and so sad Posts: 1248 | From: my sex is on fire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! | Registered: Aug 2008
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hopefully a lot of the people would have left the homes by then and seen it coming. If it was in the dead of night there would be more fatalities.
Where is it FK i cant picture it at all. What is near there that i would know.
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MM I don't even know where I live!! I just follow the family wherever they go! x
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Wasn't there any studies out and warnings that this might could happen? The Egyptian Government wasn't aware of it??
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quote:Originally posted by antably: this happened at 8 am
Yes I would think that many people still slept; if Muslims lived in this area most likely because of Ramadan.
They gonna find way more dead bodies, the rescue is just on for several hours now. I am afraid I don't believe that authorities even knew how many people exactly lived there.
I am shattered. What horrible news.
quote:Originally posted by miffmiss: hopefully a lot of the people would have left the homes by then and seen it coming. If it was in the dead of night there would be more fatalities.
You know such a landslide goes pretty quick, there are no warning signs and there's not really much time to react. You simply get caught by horrible surprise and that's it.
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I am new to Cairo. A month ago I was in the car with driver in that area. And first thought I had, My God, this might collapse one day. My driver was laughing, saying, no way. And it happened.
I find that Egyptian people are very reckless to their lives. People are driving in highways like maniacs and not rare in opposite direction. I travel a lot between cities in Egypt. I saw dead people on highways several times afer accidents.
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posted
That's really sad!!! Especially during ramadan!! The saddest thing is.... it wasn't even significant to make it to the news here.... ES was the first I heard of it!!! My heart goes out to all the people this terrible tragedy has touched.
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This is too sad May Allah bless them and ease their suffering.
This place (Manshiet Nasser) is number 24 on the list of 30 largest mega slums in the world. Unfortunately Egypt has 4 out of the 30 on that list. It's terrible what is happening in this country....
I thought the Germans had a program to rebuild this area, the sign has been up for as long as I can remember. All I've seen is new seats to sit on.. fat lot of good that is Posts: 815 | From: London and the other | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by mamasue: The saddest thing is.... it wasn't even significant to make it to the news here.... ES was the first I heard of it!!!
No actually last night these news made it f.e. already on Yahoo's frontpage.
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I thought the Germans had a program to rebuild this area, the sign has been up for as long as I can remember. All I've seen is new seats to sit on.. fat lot of good that is
Please you are not trying to blame another nation for this tragedy, do you??
I do not just want to jump to conclusions but that's how you make it sound.
Germans or any other countries can provide help, many things are done on voluntary basis but the major effort has to come from YOUR government.
"In 2003, Germany's overseas development arm (GTZ) and the Egyptian government joined forces to upgrade Manshiet Nasser's infrastructure through a €15m grant from the German government to improve water and sewage distribution and treatment, road paving and other works."
If the Egyptian government doesn't offer these underprivileged people safe housing and lets them build without licenses there is nothing we can do about.
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I haven't been able to find any links to making donations to the families. Will keep looking.
I don't think its the Copt area (though from the pictures it looks pretty similar to Zebulan town).
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quote:Originally posted by antably: it is near the castle of mohamed aly
Yes, I remembered I was standing at the entrance and looked far to the Moqattam hills. My Egyptian husband said that was military station is on the hill.
I am very sorry to hear this happened. I wish I could help ladies there to find their children, husbands, relatives to dig up the rocks with my bare hands.
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Culture I agree..."I am very sorry to hear this happened. I wish I could help ladies there to find their children, husbands, relatives to dig up the rocks with my bare hands. "
When my fiancee and I were watching the news yesterday when it first happened I saw this huge crowd of people just standing there to talk to the reporter and I said to him, what the heck!!! Why are they waiting to talk on TV? Why arent they HELPING. I dont care if you dont have big maschenery if you have your hands you can TRY. He got so upset with me for saying that, said that they couldnt move the big boulders by hand. I am still learning some of the differances in the way we think. I finally told him, if it were me under the rocks would you be talking to the TV crew or trying to find any way to dig me out? If it were him or someone I loved they would have to bodily drag me away and restrain me to keep me from trying to find people. (Heck before that squabble I sincerely wanted to go and help if at all possible. Maybe wouldnt do any good, but not trying certainly accomplishes nothing eh?)
Posts: 172 | From: Cairo/Ismailia | Registered: Feb 2008
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I tried to follow it most of yesterday. From what I can gather the stones that flattened the houses were huge. 8 of them are sitting on the 50 or so houses. 10-15 occupants to each house.
The people are trapped under those stones.
I think the authorities were right to evacuate the people out and wait till the proper equipment arrived. If you try to dig around unstable ground to save the rest you may end up killing them if the stones shift. Remember we are talking sand here as a foundation. The heavy plant machinery was in a distant location and the news said that because of the chaos of Cairo's roads it was taking so long to get it there because as you all know, Egyptian drivers will NEVER make way for another vehicle . They wont move for a screaming ambulance so they wont for sure make way for a crane or bulldozer. That is the nature of the people I'm afraid Cordoning off the highways would have led to rioting so the government had little choice really.
The plant machinery is there now, but they had 2 problems from what was reported. No access road to drive it up was one. Early on the police tried to move villagers away so that men could lift the railway to gain access. As the police moved the villagers away to clear the way they just came back, hindering the relief efforts.
The government then issued a command to clear the area because there was more shifting of the stones and more cracks appearing. They were afraid that there would be a further landslide. The police and soldiers tried in vain to evacuate the area and the status at the moment is that the area is still full of villagers and now onlookers who have flocked to the scene to watch . The only people it seems have moved are the journalists. At the moment the bulldozers are trying to clear a path to the stones so that the crane can lift them off the buildings. This is made more difficult by the villagers who are in the way and blocking the progress.
They need to take it slowly and get the best advice possible from the experts around the world to save the few alive under there. Hysterical screaming and face slapping, and digging with hands in the soft sand will not save their loved ones. I think they just have to trust the experts and hope that they can at least get out some alive .
They are saying that raw sewage and water leakage has caused the collapse of the rocks due to seepage.
Same thing Zahi Hawass is saying about the shanty towns around the pyramids destroying the bedrock of the pyramids plateau. Eventually they too will collapse into the sand
These shanty towns need to be bulldozed.
But the problem is what to do with all these people........
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to think about how big Egypt is - the government could have done something to spread the population instead of letting them crammed in some areas. I hope the villagers would realise and back off and let the experts do their job.
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You have a population of the majority are uneducated and unskilled. Just like the people of the Shanty town there.
You take him and his wife and 10 kids out to the desert and give him a piece of land to farm with a house and utilities and you buy his produce to use or export. As long as dad lives everything is okay. he has a house and income. Then dad dies. Inheritance laws here say that the property and land are divided amongst the children. He has 10!! So what used to be a decent piece of land with an income, after dad's death becomes a 1/10th share. So each child if they are sons has a portion. Not enough to live on if it is divided. Some will sell it for building, so then have no income from growing crops. The that child has 10 children and his piece of land is further divided in a 1/10th on his death. Now you have a piece of land that used to support a whole family has become the size of a 'bathroom'
This is what was tried years ago. To give them a bit land, but the inheritance rules that they live by destroy any income in 2 generations. So they had to move to the cities. This is what we have now. People who have 10 children and cannot feed them living in squalor. Selling tissues on the street with filthy babies in their arms for a few piastres.
I really have no idea what the government can do about this huge problem
Seriously what steps could they take tomorrow?
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Alison, have you been trying to get closer to the area??
The news still say 18 to 31 victims so far (reports vary), there was no update since last night. But there must be way more people still underneath the rubble.
Angry residents clash with police after Cairo rockslide
3 hours ago
CAIRO (AFP) — Furious residents of a Cairo shantytown Sunday hurled stones and insults at authorities for "inefficient" rescue efforts after a massive rockslide flattened homes and buried whole families under the rubble.
"Residents are throwing stones at police and shouting at civil defence officials. They are angry because they say rescue efforts are slow and inefficient," a security official told AFP on condition of anonymity...
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I live about 10mins away from where this happened, so my family have told me...
just want to remind anyone who hasn't already to text or contact loved ones, especially if they're in a different country to let them know you're ok. I text my mum last night, she saw it on the news this morning and i know that if i hadn't of text her she would have been having kittens worrying about me.
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Tigerlily: [QB] Alison, have you been trying to get closer to the area??
The news still say 18 to 31 victims so far (reports vary), there was no update since last night. But there must be way more people still underneath the rubble.[QUOTE]
No I think folk should stay away and let the rescue people get on with it without any hassle. I heard a guy from Kefaya on the news talking and he said that some of the villagers actually killed a few people who were alive under the rubble. He said they pushed past the police and started to move stones and rubble off the area where they thought their family was, only to throw them on the adjacent pile of rubble causing it to collapse and kill the few people who were shouting and alive in that part!!
He said that there was a housing development not far away called the Suzanne Mubarak Housing Dev, and months ago the people were told to leave and go to new homes there, because of the dangers of landslide. Only a few famlies moved, and he said even some of them returned after a few weeks.
So far the confirmed dead is 31 and the PM Nawaz was visiting some of the injured, mainly kids in hospital. They showed that on the news.
If they do it right they should be able to save quite a few who have survived the initial landslide as long as they take their time and do it expertly. Folk can survive quite a long time in rubble with no food and water as we have seen already.
The bulldozers are there and clearing the way for the cranes. The people need to move and let them get on with it and if that means 'frogmarching' them out then so be it.
God help the folk underneath all that Posts: 3416 | Registered: Oct 2007
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I saw this place with my own eyes its a sight to behold and never forgotten I was on my way to see the Monastery of St. Simian the Tanner This is a must see but few tourist or even Egyptians know about this Monastery Directions: take the autostrad till moqattam area turning left just before moqattam directly up to the monastery...
The village of Mansheiyet Nasr ( this is where the rock slide took place )is where the Zabbaleen=garbage collectors live and work yes they are mostly Copts its on the opposite side of the road from the Citadel Its not for the faint hearted ... these people are very poor they collect garbage as a means of income I am sure you have seen their donkey and carts traversing Cairo ..they take the garbage home and then sort it... The streets are very narrow and strewn with garbage Imagine the smell ..It was awful and had to keep the car windows closed I did not like taking photos of this suffering but did take some of the magnificent Monastery The Monastery contains seven Churches and Chapels hidden in a series of caves in the Muqattam hills.
I can imagine the difficulty of rescuing people the way the village is build everything on top and closely build and steep roads throw in the Egypt factor and you are living a nightmare !
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Welcome to this forum, Naifin, and thank you for your contribution.
I am wondering how many days or even weeks the Egyptians will take to go through all the rubble and truly find how out how many people became victims in this disaster?
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I visited the St Simon Tanner twice this year and was actually planning to go there again soon with someone else - the story of St Simon involves the Mokkatam mountain 'moving' in the 10th Century so it is obviously a place susceptible to earth movements of some sort.
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What was shocking was that hours later they were still waiting for the heavy lifting equipment Posts: 4476 | From: Scotland | Registered: Mar 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Inspector Barnaby: I was thinking about this too.
But it would not work.
This is why.
You have a population of the majority are uneducated and unskilled. Just like the people of the Shanty town there.
You take him and his wife and 10 kids out to the desert and give him a piece of land to farm with a house and utilities and you buy his produce to use or export. As long as dad lives everything is okay. he has a house and income. Then dad dies. Inheritance laws here say that the property and land are divided amongst the children. He has 10!! So what used to be a decent piece of land with an income, after dad's death becomes a 1/10th share. So each child if they are sons has a portion. Not enough to live on if it is divided. Some will sell it for building, so then have no income from growing crops. The that child has 10 children and his piece of land is further divided in a 1/10th on his death. Now you have a piece of land that used to support a whole family has become the size of a 'bathroom'
This is what was tried years ago. To give them a bit land, but the inheritance rules that they live by destroy any income in 2 generations. So they had to move to the cities. This is what we have now. People who have 10 children and cannot feed them living in squalor. Selling tissues on the street with filthy babies in their arms for a few piastres.
I really have no idea what the government can do about this huge problem
Seriously what steps could they take tomorrow?
It has more to do with villagers learning in the 60s and 70s of better jobs and healthcare in Cairo.
Major land owners adopt modern agricultural practices and thus less farm workers, the sons move to the cities in the 70s and 80s.
Between the agricultural and industrial revolution; in addition to the fear of having the family men being drafted to build public works. Such as the Suez Canal 4 in 10 died while or shortly after forcibly serve during its construction. With Sadat in power immediately after the Aswan dam being built, planning the second Delta project.
Well it was time to flee to the city, un registered addresses hinders authorities ability to locate persons.
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. They wont move for a screaming ambulance so they wont for sure make way for a crane or bulldozer. That is the nature of the people I'm afraid 
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