posted
Prof Dave - I think you will need to contact your colleagues in the universities - fact is we don't know because we haven't seen the actual disaster - so we are just speculating. I have not been able to find any map reference type pictures at all - let alone authoritative ones - on google searches.
Posts: 5593 | From: Egypt | Registered: Dec 2005
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An hour after that, officials said they had a plan to get heavy equipment to the scene. The neighborhood was sandwiched between the towering yellow cliff and a berm. Railroad tracks ran across the top of the berm. Officials said they would cut a path through the berm to get the equipment in.
??? what is a berm?
another bit of info
When the dust settled after the rocks crashed down here on Saturday, El Dardeery Street was gone. Half of El Amayen Street was gone.
Posts: 3416 | Registered: Oct 2007
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Professor, It may well be that by now you have the exact location. But in case you haven't I visited the small ridge this morning you have pointed out and can confirm it is definitely not there. I did find the general location but was forbidden to approach it and couldn't even get within several hundred meters of it. But to pin it down a little further I understand it is either on the ridge at - N 30deg 2.549 E 31deg 17.261 but more likely at another ridge close by at - N 30deg 2.728 E 31deg 17.261
Bear in mind that the amount of housing has increased considerably in that area and probably since the Google Earth photo was taken. Plus, even after visiting that area interpretation of the steepness of the streets is difficult, they are a lot steeper than they seem.
Posts: 52 | From: Cairo | Registered: Jul 2006
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Security Forces Cordon off Doweika; Health Ministry Warns against Plague
By Amr Hassanein, Hani Refaat, Mohamed Abdel Kader and Fatma Abu Shanab 11/9/2008
Security services tightened siege on the area hit by the rockslide in Doweika district, turning it into military barracks. They allowed only the state-owned media to be present in the scene.
The victims' families got angry. They regarded preventing them from taking part in the rescue operations as an attempt to stop searching for more bodies.
People threatened to confront the government in case they announced the suspension of the search operations. They also threatened to block the Ring Road.
The ministry of health warned the people through loudspeakers that they might be afflicted with plague if they approached the scene. However, the people said the warning is meant to prevent them from watching what is happening in the area.
Security services held three persons from Doweika for two hours for assaulting the ruling party MP Haidar Boghadadi. Vehicles sprayed the hit area with kerosene to hide the smell of decaying bodies.
The processes of crumbling rocks will end in three days' time, said an official from the Cairo Security Troops.
Independent MP Mustafa Bakry accused security troops of insulting him, saying that they prevented him from entering Doweika to distribute 200 blankets. He said this in an urgent enquiry to the Minister of Interior.
Civil defense forces found eight new bodies under the debris, thus taking the death toll up to 69, including three unidentified bodies.
Sources told al-Masry al-Youm that instructions have been issued to quickly close the catastrophe file.
FIVE days after massive boulders flattened some 35 houses in a slum area in Cairo, rescue teams temporarily stopped the use of heavy equipment in searching for bodies of people killed in the rockslide.
Rescue officials attributed the suspension to the rugged nature of the area of el-Deweiqa, a shantytown in eastern Cairo.Meanwhile, a Ministry of Health official put the death toll from the rockfall at 62. "Around 55 bodies have already been handed over to their families," the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) quoted Dr Mohamed Sultan, who heads the Central Emergency Directorate of the Ministry of Health as saying.Residents, however, confirm that the death toll is higher, saying that big-size families used to live in the crushed houses.
Minister of Housing Ahmed el-Maghrabi has said that chemical techniques will be used to split massive rocks without causing damage or sounds, the local media reported yesterday.
Stench resulting from bodies trapped under the rocks shrouded the area as the grief-stricken populace used their bare hands to reach the corpses of their loved ones.Minister el-Maghrabi said that five shantytowns in the vicinity of el-Deweiqa had been evacuated as part of a governmental plan to upgrade the whole slum area of Manshiyet Nasser.
Abdel Azim Wazir, the Cairo Governer, announced on Monday that 2,000 homes would be made available to the affected residents of el-Deweiqa. Another 10,000 units will be built in the future to develop the slum, he told the official MENA news agency.
Inhabitants, however, refused to leave until they get alternate houses, situation which triggered clashes between them and police.The densely populated shantytown, built by emigrants from the countryside seeking work in Cairo, is located beneath unstable limestone cliffs.
EGYPT DENIES COVERAGE BAN OF DOWEIQA INCIDENT posted: September 11, 2008
CAIRO, SEPT. 11 (BNA) -- AN EGYPTIAN OFFICIAL HAS DISMISSED AS UNTRUE REPORTS CIRCULATED BY SOME MEDIA ESTABLISHMENTS, SAYING THAT EGYPT IMPOSED A BAN ON COVERAGE OF THE TRAGIC INCIDENT IN DOWEIQA BY SOME LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL MEDIA. THE SOURCE TOLD THE MIDDLE EAST NEWS AGENCY THAT THE MEASURES TAKEN WERE AIMED AT FACILITATING THE WORK OF RESCUE TEAMS WHO HAD UTMOST PRIORITY TO BE PRESENT AT THE SITE. AOQ 11-SEP-2008 21:02
Posts: 313 | From: Between yuppies and chronics | Registered: Aug 2008
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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.
You most definitely did jump to conclusions and this isn't really the place to explain considering the enormity of the tragedy but in brief... lots of countries are pumping funds into Egypt (not just Germany) and there is always talks of development and change. In reality things just get worse. NGO's make me sick now .. there are some doing a good job, but there are just as many who are not.
I checked the website of the Development Agency responsible for the project in that area and it does mention there was a risk of what happened happening:
The major problems Manshiet Nasser is facing include: Difficult access to and through the area—massive overhanging limestone cliffs are a constant risk to people and property. Source
Maybe the Professor who has been involved in the discussion on this thread could contact them for more details about the location. Or maybe you would be kind enough to contact the German partner agency and see what they say? It's the GTZ
I just hope the government adequately compensate these people for their loss although nothing can replace lost family members. 1000 LE will barely cover a pot to pi** in Posts: 815 | From: London and the other | Registered: Jul 2005
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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.
You most definitely did jump to conclusions and this isn't really the place to explain considering the enormity of the tragedy but in brief... lots of countries are pumping funds into Egypt (not just Germany) and there is always talks of development and change. In reality things just get worse. NGO's make me sick now .. there are some doing a good job, but there are just as many who are not.
I checked the website of the Development Agency responsible for the project in that area and it does mention there was a risk of what happened happening:
The major problems Manshiet Nasser is facing include: Difficult access to and through the area—massive overhanging limestone cliffs are a constant risk to people and property. Source
Maybe the Professor who has been involved in the discussion on this thread could contact them for more details about the location. Or maybe you would be kind enough to contact the German partner agency and see what they say? It's the GTZ
I just hope the government adequately compensate these people for their loss although nothing can replace lost family members. 1000 LE will barely cover a pot to pi** in
Oh wow, I did jump to conclusions?
You accusing Germans of not doing their job!!
Why don't you be kind enough to contact the GTZ since you starting rolling the ball? I am sure they wouldn't mind to share ongoing projects with you. And I know it's the GTZ because they were named in the article I posted.
You need to focus on the main problem why this tragedy happened, happened in the past and will most likely happen again in the future if not a major change is done. Don't blame others for the inability of your government to provide for its own citizens.
Posts: 30135 | From: The owner of this website killed ES....... | Registered: Feb 2004
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CAIRO: Egypt and Germany could expand the horizons of their bilateral development cooperation provided that the Egyptian government makes available the conditions enabling such cooperation, said representatives of Germany in Egypt.
In a German Embassy press conference Tuesday, German Ambassador Martin Kobler explained the commitments agreed upon with the Egyptian government in the area of development, saying that in 2004 German aid reached around 110 million euros.
Being one of the most important partners in the Middle East and because of its strategic significance in the region, the German ambassador believes that developmental relations with Egypt, ongoing for around five decades, are important, playing a role in strengthening ties between the Arab country and the European Union.
The German Embassy helps to coordinate between German activities and those of other donors in the area of economic reform. One of their main aims, says the embassy, is securing a better future for future generations in Egypt.
Egypt is one of the foremost receivers of bilateral aid from Germany, being granted to date around 5 billion euros in developmental assistance.
The assistance mainly goes toward financial and technical cooperation projects, and some of the current projects that cooperation with Germany’s has achieved include constructing primary schools, water supplies and sewers in Kafr Al-Sheikh, a hydropower plant in Naga Hammadi and developing urban areas.
The country has also developed, along with the World Bank and the Netherlands, irrigation in the delta and constructed a wind park in Zafarana. Germany has also helped launch the dual vocational training Mubarak-Kohl Initiative and promoted enterprises and micro-financing.
“The development assistance that Germany provides is in the form of projects; something that every Egyptian citizen could feel and directly benefit from,” says Kobler.
Cooperating with other German institutions such as the KFW Development Bank and GTZ German Technical Cooperation office in Cairo, Germany has also been able to offer long-term courses in Germany in water and environment and a long-term stay for experts in the area of social market economy and education.
Moreover, Egypt receives project funds from the KFW in the form of preferential loans and grants, supplemented by market funds guaranteed by the German government. According to GTZ deputy country director Ali Dessouki, the priority for funds are areas relating to the use of water and health care - safe and clean water supplies, sound sewage disposal and agriculture are all high on the list.
According to their Egypt report, GTZ says that one of the main objectives of financial cooperation (FC) in irrigated farming is “to increase agricultural production and thus to assure income for small farmers as well as to use the water resources in an environmentally sound and efficient manner.”
The FC also aims to cover the construction of a new barrage, rehabilitation of pumping stations and upgrading draining channels and irrigation systems; involving farmers in the operation is also a main concern.
In the area of environmental protection, Andreas Holkotte, director of the KFW Cairo office, says that Egypt needs to help by utilizing renewable sources of energy on a much broader scale. Egypt’s potential for this is “great,” Holkotte tells the press, “considering its wind conditions, its hot and sunny weather,” and the hydropower potential of the Nile.
Especially in terms of natural resources, the ambassador says that Egypt is not working hard enough to utilize their potential.
“You still expect Germany to contribute with direct monetary funds to the Egyptian government [concerning energy generating projects],” says Kobler. “However, I wonder why there aren’t solar energy projects in Egypt. The solar energy has always been existent in Egypt. Why isn’t it used for instance to warm water? A lot of countries use solar energy.”
“If such projects are initiated [by the Egyptian government] Germany would be more than happy to contribute in them,” says Kobler, adding that producing energy from conventional sources in Egypt is possible and cheap.
The German funds also aim, with the help of the Egyptian government, to improve living conditions in Egypt, where, according to the KFW report, projects in Boulaq Al-Dakrour and Manshiet Nasser are improving people’s access to the basic infrastructure in terms of water, sewage, roads and community facilities. Increasing the capacities of primary schools is also a priority, with an aim to increasing enrollment rates, reducing the disadvantages that children suffer as a result of overcrowded classrooms especially in remote areas and fighting dropout rates.
“We have a great interest in financing projects and advancing cooperation with Egypt, but the Egyptian government has to provide the environment and conditions that enable us to invest and achieve these projects,” says Kobler.
The German experts also said that the government has to ease the process of financing projects for non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The government has to license monetary funds for NGOs and it withholds the right to choose the NGO receiving the aid from any other entity; “that is why cooperation with NGOs is neither easy nor optional.”
“The government should not decide [alone] which NGOs deserve aid.”
On another level, the ambassador and German experts insist that Egypt “has much to give” in order for the reform plans to be implemented and for foreign and local investment to be encouraged. In terms of cultural and political development, “there are many missing factors,” says Kobler.
The lack of democracy, participation of citizens in politics and the extension of the Emergency Law are all factors that should not be overlooked, according to the ambassador.
“The European Union does not support the extension of the Emergency Law. This issue will be brought up in future negotiations with the Egyptian government, along with the issue of the independence of the judiciary.”
The human rights issue in not only an internal matter, adds Kobler. “The people must take part in the electoral process and major political decisions … All these issues are being discussed.”
“Nevertheless, on the general level, the policy of the Egyptian government is going in the right direction.”
Thank you - I think your second location is absolutely correct. I have looked at this in detail, helped by a Panoramio picture of the site before the rockfall. I have posted the location and a brief analysis on my blog:
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.
You most definitely did jump to conclusions and this isn't really the place to explain considering the enormity of the tragedy but in brief... lots of countries are pumping funds into Egypt (not just Germany) and there is always talks of development and change. In reality things just get worse. NGO's make me sick now .. there are some doing a good job, but there are just as many who are not.
I checked the website of the Development Agency responsible for the project in that area and it does mention there was a risk of what happened happening:
The major problems Manshiet Nasser is facing include: Difficult access to and through the area—massive overhanging limestone cliffs are a constant risk to people and property. Source
Maybe the Professor who has been involved in the discussion on this thread could contact them for more details about the location. Or maybe you would be kind enough to contact the German partner agency and see what they say? It's the GTZ
I just hope the government adequately compensate these people for their loss although nothing can replace lost family members. 1000 LE will barely cover a pot to pi** in
Oh wow, I did jump to conclusions?
You accusing Germans of not doing their job!!
Why don't you be kind enough to contact the GTZ since you starting rolling the ball? I am sure they wouldn't mind to share ongoing projects with you. And I know it's the GTZ because they were named in the article I posted.
You need to focus on the main problem why this tragedy happened, happened in the past and will most likely happen again in the future if not a major change is done. Don't blame others for the inability of your government to provide for its own citizens.
You're preaching to the converted silly woman. I'm not Egyptian, never have been and never will be. The NGO's I'm talking about ARE Egyptian.
I made the suggestion for you to contact the GTZ since you seem like you wanted to help and you're in Germany. It might have been a good contribution and I wasn't referring to you asking about their project progress... I was talking about checking where the location is. That is what the Professor is looking for isn't it?
I actually live in Egypt, feel and experience the problems which happen. There is only so much you can understand from newspaper articles. In any case.. save your misunderstandings and love for arguments to another thread aye I don't do ES bitch fights and this really isn't the place.
Posts: 815 | From: London and the other | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Never meant to do a "b*tch fight" on here if that's what you call it - I don't.
Why would you wanna contact GTZ to find out where exactly the place of distructure is? You either walk there yourself and in case you can't enter you call up the Red Cross in Cairo and they tell you. I also believe they would be happy to welcome more volunteers - in case you wanna do your fair share of help.
And since you local and living in Cairo it would be best if you would contact the local GTZ office and find out info about ongoing projects yourself - don't be a chicken. Have a good day!!
Posts: 30135 | From: The owner of this website killed ES....... | Registered: Feb 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Professor David Petley: AntonD
Thank you - I think your second location is absolutely correct. I have looked at this in detail, helped by a Panoramio picture of the site before the rockfall. I have posted the location and a brief analysis on my blog:
RCA on ground in Egypt to help victims of mountain slide
posted on 12/09/2008
UAE's Red Crescent Authority (RCA) has sent a relief team to Egypt for on-ground operations to help victims of the massive landslide at Jabal Muqattam.
The Mountain, with a large emerald treasure underneath, came down on the people living in the valley, killing several people and forcing thousands to flee the area.
RCA distributed among the families essential relief supplies, which included food, medicine, drinking water and blankets.
Secretary General of the RCA Dr. Saleh Al Thae said that the relief operations are carried out in cooperation with the Egyptian counterpart and under the supervision of the UAE embassy in Cairo.
Posts: 313 | From: Between yuppies and chronics | Registered: Aug 2008
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posted
Remote Sensing Experts: Authority Warned against Moqattam Rockslide
By Nadin Kenawi 14/9/2008
A geologist with the Egyptian National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences said the finances that the authority used to get to do research on Moqattam Mountain stopped since 2002.
Speaking to Al-Masry Al-Youm, geologist Mohamed Naguib Hegazy said the authority and other research bodies agreed with the Scientific Research Academy to make a study on Moqattam Mountain in the aftermath of the first rockslide in Zabalin area in 1993. The annual finances of this study were LE 120,000 out of LE 1.8 million, but the finances were stopped.
He added: "The matter did not confine to just that. It extended to the fact that nobody paid attention to the annual reports we used to send to the Scientific Research Academy."
He said the first annual report was sent in 1994 and said two areas, including the area that fell down last week, were threatened with collapse.
"In the last study of 2002, we named six alternative safe areas in Moqattam in which inhabitants of the charted areas could live. We are the authority which is responsible for using data of different satellites in our studies," he said.
"Although more than a week has been elapsed since the Doweika rockslide, no one asked for old or new studies from us. The Doweika incident proved that our old studies and risk maps were feasible. Those maps should be updated with the latest technological developments," he said.
Driving past that plateau it was obvious to anyone, not only geologists that the overhangs at some stage were going to fall down.
From the Google Earth images the area does not show housing so is a bit outdated. Surely anyone with any sense would have seen the triangular area jutting out and sitting precariously there and would not in a million years have stated to build a house and houses under it.
It defies belief when you look at the area.
All I can assume is they took their chances because it was so close to the recycle place............. Posts: 3416 | Registered: Oct 2007
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posted
Homeless Duweiqa victims forcibly removed following protest
By Sarah Carr First Published: September 16, 2008
CAIRO: Families made homeless by the Duweiqa rockslide who had set up camp at a public garden in central Cairo opposite the Cairo Governor’s Abdeen office, were forcibly removed by the police on Tuesday.
The roughly 20 families, including a large number of children, moved to the garden on Sunday and spent two nights sleeping on blankets and surviving on NGO donations of food and medicine.
On Tuesday morning around 30 of these homeless Duweiqa residents, mostly women, took part in a protest which lasted no longer than 15 minutes. But approximately an hour after it ended, security forces removed the families....
CAIRO: A game of pass the buck has begun between different governmental institutions to see who will shoulder the blame in the Duweiqa rockslide crisis.
The Ministry of Social Solidarity began proceedings by saying it was not responsible for providing housing units to residents of shantytowns, this rater being the domain of the Cairo governorate.
It is not the fault of geology, experts tell Gamal Nkrumah. People die in shantytowns because shantytowns are there Click to view caption Waiting and waiting: the now homeless of Dweiqa, staying in temporary tents, seek shelters more permanent, while relatives of the victims hold their breath for any sign that their loved ones might be found alive
"Everything is transitory, everything is ephemeral, everything comes and goes, everything moves on," Milad Hanna, former head of the Housing Committee in the People's Assembly, told Al-Ahram Weekly. At once candid and philosophical, he deplored the disaster afflicting the shantytown of Dweiqa that took the lives of more than 60 people whose lives abruptly ended last Saturday at the foot of the Moqattam hills. "The problem is social and political. It is not a technical issue," Hanna explained, "not a question of the properties of limestone, and certainly not of country bumpkins who cannot cope with life in the city."
"We ought to learn from our mistakes. Unfortunately, we turn a blind eye to them. I am not sure how long we can continue in such a way. Will we learn in my lifetime? I seriously doubt it." the septuagenarian shrugged his shoulders in despair.
"The number of collapsing buildings will grow. The poor are obliged to construct houses with cheap materials. They access electricity and water supplies in ingenuous but illegal ways. The dangerous buildings that result might provide temporary shelter but they are liable to collapse at any moment. The only question we need to ask ourselves is whether, as a nation, we are willing to seriously tackle the problem."
"Space is both social and political. Socio- spatial organisation demarcates social relations that reflect power relations," Director of Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies Abdel-Moneim Said told the Weekly.
The ashwaaiyat, shantytowns or informal housing, that have sprung up around the periphery of Cairo were once seen as eyesores, places to be hidden from view, or at least ignored. Then, as disaster followed disaster, they became a cause for grave concern among city planners and the authorities, at last awake to this most embarrassing of national fiascoes.
When the hitta, a piece of land, colloquial for neighbourhood, makes it onto cinema screens, the lives of its inhabitants are eulogised and idealised, mediated by the fancy of middle class scriptwriters and directors who seem determined to turn slum dwellers into the embodiment of the longsuffering Egyptian masses, all the better to serve as vehicles for their own state-of-the-nation moralising. Real lives are relegated to a dream world because reality, as the Dweiqa disaster so graphically illustrates, is far from funny.
Slum dwellers are inevitably the aggrieved parties in any dispute, left seeking redress. They are excluded a wide gamut of welfare provisions and amenities to which they strongly believe they are entitled. Their pitiful earnings permit them to make ends meet, but only just.
Yet the residents of Dweiqa will resist forcible removal to temporary camps and they are clearly far from keen to move to apartments provided by the government. After all, Dweiqa is located in the heart of Greater Cairo, and its residents are unwilling to be exiled to the outlying fringes of the city.
There seems little agreement on the number of shantytowns encompassing Cairo. Government agencies have yet to approach a consensus on the number of slums enveloping the city. The Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics believes there are 909 slum areas in Greater Cairo. The National Planning Institute puts the figure at 1,109, somewhat higher than the 1,034 identified by the Demographic Centre.
When no one can quite agree what a slum is, or where they are, what hope for any credible plan of action?
More alarming, still, is the refusal of various ministries to acknowledge the existence of slums at all. For them, the residents of these informal areas are non-entities. They do not count.
Businessmen are not interested in the development of slums. It is far more lucrative to invest in compounds for the wealthy in the new satellite cities surrounding Cairo. What development occurs is a result of philanthropy, of charity: Egypt's economic elite finds it convenient to pretend to assist the authorities in resolving the "crisis of the poor".
But where are the Kibar Al-Mantiqa, the elders of the district? Do the authorities and do- gooders consult them? Do they consult young people in the shantytowns, or members of the most vulnerable communities?
Narratives of oppression and resistance abound and part of the dilemma, as always, concerns the politics representation. The ashwaaiyat has a PR problem. Every girl's dream is to elope with her lover from the hitta, to get out of the hellhole.
The lack of communication that pits the wealthy against the poor contributes to the disaster.
According to one Al-Ahram pundit, the shanty towns encircling Cairo are but potential danger zones, ticking time bombs, nestling within Egypt's capital. They are areas beyond the control of the state and the authorities. In physical and symbolic terms they are beyond the city proper, beyond the control of urban planners and state authorities.
"The main characteristic of shantytowns is the lack of control of their social spaces," political sociologist Ammar Ali Hassan told the Weekly. "I do not think that it is ethical or feasible for the authorities to lay siege to the shantytowns. Yes, many of the residents of informal housing units in the shantytowns have installed electricity and water illegally. But most do not have proper sanitation facilities."
"These people have escaped rural areas because there was nothing for them there. There is no work. They die of hunger. There are jobs in the cities. There is food. Nobody dies of hunger in the cities."
Unregulated housing, no places of entertainment and recreation, but at least there is shelter and nearby, perhaps, a job. Unplanned, unregulated, informal, substandard housing meets the needs of the poor.
"They dream of living somewhere permanent. Their lives are transitory. They live in one slum for a decade then move to another. There is no direction, no control. The slum dwellers are not city-dwellers in the proper sense of the word, they are not even citizens. They are considered second-rate or even third-rate city- dwellers. Their votes do not count. They can be bought and sold for pittance," says Hassan.
Served with eviction orders, the residents of the shantytowns tenaciously resist, even after such catastrophes as Dweiqa.
"They tolerate rising heaps of refuse. They live beyond the regulations affecting the residents of the city proper. Indeed, some of these slums are inaccessible to outsiders. This is why we desperately need a comprehensive plan of action," argues Hassan.
Awlad Al-Balad, sons of the country, sons of the soil: the phrase denotes cultural authenticity. And the defiantly anti-urban sentiments of the urban poor are perfectly legitimate.
posted
If its not a question of geology why are the non-government, non-egyptian reports including the detail that construction above the ledge had been going on for several weeks.
Even in countries like brazil squatters are removed from housing that is unsafe and put into perment housing with assistance before any construction, that puts the squaters at risk, even starts.
But then brazil has to answer to the developed world and egypt does not.
If a entire ledge weighing millions of tons hadn't fell on the squatter homes then geology wouldn't be at fault. If Jubba the hut fell in the squatter homes from the ledge it wouldn't be geology it would be George Lucas's fault.
Posts: 313 | From: Between yuppies and chronics | Registered: Aug 2008
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Cairo's impoverished Manshiyet Nasser area was devastated on 6 September when a huge rockslide destroyed at least 35 homes.
As rescue efforts entered a fifth day, the BBC's Lina Wardani visited the area and found local residents angry at the slow pace of efforts to retrieve the bodies of the dead.
Olfat's sister, Amal, has been under the Muqattam rocks for five days now.
Rescuers have been searching through the rubble by hand.
"[Amal] went to buy breakfast on Saturday morning and will not come back, the whole mountain fell over her and dozens of our relatives and neighbours," Olfat said.
As rescue efforts in the Duwayqa rockslide disaster enter a fifth day, there are more bodies still under the rubble than have been recovered.
The official death toll has risen to 61, with more than 70 injured and hundreds of others still believed to be beneath the giant boulders.
Because of the narrowness of the lanes and dirt roads in the Manshiyet Nasser shanty town, authorities bulldozed over certain sections of houses and part of a rail track to clear the way for the heavy machinery to reach the site of collapse.
However, until now rescue efforts have relied mainly on the bare hands of local residents, rescue workers and very primitive tools, mainly wooden sticks.
'Inadequate help'
There was anger and grief as the community of the shanty town gathered to mourn their relatives.
I don't care about apartments, I don't want anything, I just want my daughter Sabah, local resident
Residents hurled stones and insults at authorities for what they regarded as inefficient rescue efforts.
"See, police officers are sitting in the shade while we are trying to search for our relatives using our bare hands," said Mohammed Hamdy, 25, a local resident who lost five members of his family in the accident.
However, security forces have cordoned off the area to pave the way for professional rescue operations, and prevented journalists and residents from entering.
Many civil society organisations have also rushed to help residents with supplies of food, medicine, and blankets.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ordered the government to provide housing for those left homeless and issue compensation to families of the victims, the state-owned al-Ahram newspaper reported.
"I don't care about apartments, I don't want anything, I just want my daughter," cried Sabah, another resident.
"I want all these soldiers to go and get me my daughter. I know she must be dead by now, I still want her body."
Many other residents want to be moved to safe apartments promised by the government.
However, they do not trust the promises of the officials, while the 2,000 emergency flats made available by the government to house some families remain insufficient.
Some local residents claim they cannot get an apartment without paying bribes, and say that these apartments are only given to relatives of officials.
Melting clay
The section of hill that broke away was estimated at 60m (200ft) wide and 15m long.
Scene of Cairo rockfall Many residents are poor, their homes built in an unsafe area
The reasons for the rockfall are not clear yet. Local residents believe it was caused by sewage coming from large and luxurious compounds being built on Muqattam.
However, Egyptian geologist Fakhri Labib explained that this was expected because the Muqattam mountain is made of layers of limestone above layers of clay.
"Clay melts from water, any water, not necessarily sewage, it could be simply rain," Mr Labib says.
He also accuses the government of neglecting this "simple fact", which scientists and geologists have warned against many times.
"They don't care about poor people. They are left to build their houses in unsafe areas, and their death is cheap. The government has reached an unprecedented level of corruption. It openly protects the rich, and neglects the poor," added Mr Labib, pointing to a series of events in the last couple of years.
The rockfall disaster was the latest in a string of incidents that have damaged the reputation of the Egyptian government, in office with few changes since 2004.
The fire brigade reacted slowly last month when a blaze broke out in the offices of the upper house of parliament. It burned for more than 12 hours and gutted the historic building.
A prominent member of the ruling party and one of Egypt's wealthiest businessman, Hesham Talaat Mustafa, was charged in August as an accessory to the July killing of Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim in Dubai.
That month a parliamentarian from the ruling party was acquitted of manslaughter over the deaths of more than 1,000 ferry passengers who drowned in the Red Sea in 2006. The verdict has been widely criticised.
Overcrowded
In a survey carried out by UN Habitat, a human settlement programme, Manshiyet Nasser is described as "the largest squatter, informal area" in Cairo. Some 350,000 people live in the area on about 850 acres - a density of more than 400 persons per acre, the organisation said.
"The area is suffering from poor living qualities, inadequate services, lack of infrastructure and deteriorated environmental conditions," the survey said.
There are more than 80 shanty towns in and around Cairo, housing millions of people with no legal basis.
This makes it even more difficult for the residents to be properly relocated since most of them don't have official papers, especially those whose houses are buried under the boulders.
"This is murder. The condition of this mountain has been dangerous for the past 15 years, yet no-one moved from officials. And it is the fifth day now since the disaster. Can you see any work?" asks angry street vendor Mohammed Ali.
This makes it even more difficult for the residents to be properly relocated since most of them don't have official papers, especially those whose houses are buried under the boulders.
This makes it even more difficult for the residents to be properly relocated since most of them don't have official papers, especially those whose houses are buried under the boulders.
This makes it even more difficult for the residents to be properly relocated since most of them don't have official papers, especially those whose houses are buried under the boulders.
The 73 war with Israel still has its effects. Posts: 313 | From: Between yuppies and chronics | Registered: Aug 2008
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posted
Looking at the size this would be about right. 2000 tonnes is about 1000 cubic metres, which is 10 x 10 x 10 m.
Posts: 6 | From: UK | Registered: Sep 2008
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US QuickBird Satellite Takes Photos Showing Potential Collapses in Muqattam
By Nadine Kenawi 28/ 9/ 2008
Photos taken by US QuickBird satellite showed that the Muqattam plateau is vulnerable to new collapses in southern areas, especially on Street 9 and Nafoura Square in Muqattam.
The photos revealed the poor conditions of the plateau and that it is vulnerable to collapses such as the 1995 collapse that occurred on Street 10 in Muqattam, said Mohamed Naguib Hegazi, a geologist at the National Authority for Space Science to al-Masry al-Youm.
He noted that the collapses might be triggered by the building of swimming pools and poor irrigation techniques used in gardens. "This pushes us to reconsider the high plateau of Muqattam to preserve lives and investments," said Hegazi.
Hegazi said that the authority directed the US satellite last week to photograph 100 square kilometers of Muqattam. The photos were shot on 19 September. Hegazi claimed, "We are now able to determine the number of collapsed houses."
Since the US satellite was directed to photograph the rockslide-hit area, no official body has requested or made use of the photos, he said, adding that the decision of directing the US satellite was an initiative from the authority and will be financed by its own budget.
"We have already started to prepare a geographical database of the shantytowns zone to draw out a detailed map of it," he said.
Hegazi added that the photos revealed that the area harmed by the collapse was about 6,000 square meters. Some 18,000-24,000 tons of rocks fell on the affected areas as 100 meters of the mountain collapsed.
quote:Originally posted by Tigerlily: Emaar Misr's Uptown Cairo :
" Spread over 4 million sq. mtrs, Uptown Cairo is located on the Mokattam Hills, 200 metres above sea level. The new downtown will serve as a city within a city offering investment options in prime residential, commercial, retail and hospitality space ."
That's one construction site right now on Mokattam Hills.
Emaar bullish on Moqattam project
By Abdel-Rahman Hussein First Published: October 28, 2008
CAIRO: Emaar Misr has responded to recent news reports regarding the stirrings of a crisis between it and the Cairo governorate over its Uptown Cairo project in Moqattam by stating that they are committed to implementing their projects.
The Egyptian press had reported that the Cairo governor, Abdel-Azim Wazir, had issued a directive to halt construction on the Uptown Cairo project, following the Duweiqa rockslide disaster earlier last month.
In a statement released to Daily News Egypt, Emaar Misr CEO Sameh Muhtadi said, “In Egypt, Emaar Misr the wholly owned subsidiary of Emaar Properties is already one of the largest foreign direct investors, and we are committed to implementing all the projects announced so far.”
Wazir had issued a directive to halt all construction works in Moqattam until a technical committee it had put together released its findings on the integrity of the hill, especially at its edges.
According to local press reports, Emaar Misr is refusing to halt construction on its Uptown Cairo project and is proceeding with the project. Additionally, Emaar had requested from Cairo Governor Abdel-Azim Wazir to clarify the governorate’s decision.
Muhtadi stressed that the project complied with all requisite governmental stipulations and that its delivery — slated for 2010 — was already ahead of time.
“Emaar Misr is already ahead of schedule on Uptown Cairo, and undertakes construction of its projects in Egypt, including Uptown Cairo, as per governmental regulations and policies,” he said.
The rockslide in the shantytown of Duweiqa caused the deaths of at least 105 residents who were crushed when the boulders at the edge of the mountain slid off flattening the makeshift houses underneath.
A group named Citizens Against Price Hikes submitted a complaint to the Prosecutor General’s office in the wake of the rockslide in which they specifically stipulated that work on the Emaar development project in Moqattam, Uptown Cairo, contributed to the rockslide in Duweiqa.
“Emaar Properties is committed to its global expansion and business segmentation strategy. The company has strong economic fundamentals, and driven by economies of scale and domestic demand, Emaar will continue to strengthen its operations in all its markets and also explore new growth opportunities,” Muhtadi said.
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Cairo slide buried woman's past, present and future
Sana Amr lost her father, brother and sister in the September disaster, as well as all her belongings -- including the ones that gave her worth as a bride. By Jeffrey Fleishman
November 11, 2008
Reporting from Cairo — Her suitor had the ring, but she lost her dowry.
It was buried beneath the fallen limestone cliffs that smashed her home and smothered her neighborhood two months ago, killing at least 200 people. That morning seems long past, but there are still funerals and newly made orphans when the digging men pull another body from the rock and grit. It goes on like this, names whispered in alleys, hearts broken.
Sana Amr's heart cracked four times: The evening after the earth trembled they found the body of her brother; the next day they reached her dead father, a Koran pressed to his chest; 40 days later they unearthed her sister, lying face down, lifeless but barely blemished, except for bruises on her cheeks and stomach. Amr's dowry, which included a refrigerator and a washing machine, vanished too, and with it the hope of marriage any time soon.
A poor girl's worth is in her dowry, not in her charms. Amr knows it is not the time to marry Ahmed, a truck driver and soldier in the Egyptian army. Her other sister, Sumaya, her dowry also lost, has put off her wedding too. They live with their mother and brother in an unfinished two-room apartment provided by the government. There is no furniture, no pictures on the walls, no scent of family history, only borrowed mats hiding a concrete floor.
"This abaya is the only thing of mine that survived," Amr said. "I even lost my slippers."
It is a pretty abaya, a black robe embroidered in silver and red. Her stout hands slip from its sleeves, sometimes rising to her lips to hide a smile, when a smile comes, which isn't often.
She's 23 and never went to school; she tried teaching herself a few times, but it was hard and confusing. Her father talked about hiring a tutor to educate the family; now he's gone and it's not likely a tutor will ever come. Learning arithmetic won't bring back her dowry, won't stop her mother's tears.
"I spend the whole day trying to distract myself," she said. "I keep doing laundry."
Millions seek distraction in the slums and poor neighborhoods that rise on Cairo's edges, grow at its heart. They live in houses and apartments illegally built decades ago when migrants from the Nile Delta and the southern deserts followed stories of fine clothes and wealth. Most found the city of 17 million too crowded, too stretched, a brick-and-mortar maze of car horns, staccato heartbeats and smoky alleys rattling with tin shops and looms.
Shantytowns such as Amr's, a slump of buildings beneath cracking cliffs and seeping sewage, were flimsy, balanced on desperation. When tragedy strikes it is complete; there is no insurance, no bailouts, only scribbled papers from government clerks with promises no one expects to be kept. In a city where more than 40% of the population lives in slums, the poor get lost between the call to prayer and the latest government report boasting economic growth.
Amr sat on the floor the other day with Sumaya and their mother, Faragallah; outside, down the hill, backhoes clawed at boulders searching for more bodies from the Sept. 6 rock slide. Thousands of people, many of them homeless, live around the rubble, women holding babies, barefoot children running, men on motorcycles selling propane canisters, Ho-Ho wrappers blowing in the dust, Nile fish dully glistening on dirty ice.
Amr's family lives on the $18 a week her brother earns from carpet making. Her father used to run a sandwich shop. The money was never that good, but it bought food, dowries slowly accumulated. Faragallah, whose abaya was not embroidered like her daughter's, was proud of what the family had saved.
"It was tough even before all this happened," said Faragallah, her silver hair slipping from a black hijab. "Some days we'd find cheese, other days not. The days we had no money we'd eat beans. But we didn't envy anyone. Our house was furnished and we had dowries for our daughters. . . . It's all gone. I lost a man. I lost two children."
She lowered her head, cried into her hand. She had known the danger. The cliffs had been groaning, but they had been groaning for decades. Last year, while Faragallah was walking to market, a shard of falling rock knocked her down and cut a long gash in her right arm. The family didn't think of moving. Where? How?
Metal clanged in the distance. Women gathered outside the door; they had stories too, about tumbled homes and crushed children, like the two pulled from the broken brick the other day and handed to their mother. The tales echoed over dirt lots and in stairwells and apartments that had no furniture and no carpets to soften the sounds of the city.
Amr's fiance lives far from the cliffs. He is her cousin, and, like her father, he is protective. She doesn't go out for long, she doesn't linger, even at the market. She must wait for her wedding, though. Her mother said it was not time for joy to replace sorrow, and besides, she should offer more than herself, a dowry, no matter how small, to her husband. But she has even lost her sewing machine. How can a girl marry without a sewing machine?
Next year, maybe, her mother said, she can be Ahmed's bride.
Amr opened her wallet. She lay the identification cards of the dead on the mat: Her father, a full face that spilled over the tight collar of his shirt; her brother, hair trimmed close around the ears, a mustache as thin as a moth's wing; her sister, eyes wide, face aglow against a black head scarf. That's what's left, along with the family Koran found clasped against her father's chest.
And a ring, her dead brother's silver ring, which she fidgets with, spins around her finger, when she speaks of a dowry lost and a marriage delayed.
Fleishman is a Times staff writer.
jeffrey.fleishman@latimes.com
Noha El-Hennawy of The Times' Cairo Bureau contributed to this report.
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Second-Phase Housing Units of Doweqa Evacuees Delivered; 20 Families Still Sleep in the Street
By Manar Khater 2/ 3/ 2009
Photo by Fouad el-Garnousi A family in the street waiting for a unit
The Manshaet Nasser Local Council and the Doweqa Housing Committee have yesterday delivered the second-phase housing units for 47 evacuees in the Suzanne Mubarak housing project. That phase had begun on December 21 last year.
However, 20 families are still sleeping in the street in front of the Housing Commission. They brought along their furniture, claiming that the Council refused to give them their units, although they had documents proving that they lived in the houses that were demolished in Doweqa.
Housing Committee Chairman Hamdi Salem said the housing operations will be complete in 72 hours, bringing the total housing units delivered to 4000 over two phases. He said this is to compensate for the locations that have been identified by Cairo Governorate as geologically dangerous.
Salwa Fathi Ibrahim said she has been sleeping in the street with her children for 45 days because the head of the council told her she was not entitled to a unit, as she was living in slums and not in a house. She said the birth certificates of her children prove that they were living in a house.
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Deputy governor, seven officials to be tried for Duweiqa rockslide
By Safaa Abdoun / Daily News Egypt First Published: December 30, 2009
CAIRO: General Prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud referred eight government officials, including the deputy governor of Cairo, to a criminal court for involuntary manslaughter and injury to the residents of Duweiqa who were victim to a massive rockslide in September 2008....
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