Today marks the end of the forty-day period of mourning since that fatal Saturday morning on Sertember 6th. I would like to express my solidarity with the people of Duweiqa on this day.
In the aftermath of Duweiqa, that cost 107 people their lives, the BBC offers us a glimpse at the same problem from another angle, were we get to follow two youngish couples, Hazem and Shaimaa and Ashraf and Rabab on their make or break day when they will compete against each other for the key to their future.
A serious social problem that changes society forever makes a good TV-game show?
This is Doqou el- Mazaher(Start the Bridal Music), the new show of Mahmoud Saad, famous TV-personality from al Beit Beitak. In a way it´s reality-TV, comming to Egypt, but the problem is that one of the couples will walk away with the keys to married life, a family and soon children , in short the Egyptian fairytale beginning of.... And they lived happily ever after...
The other couple will go back, not to their home, but to their parents constant nagging about why your fiancé is not doing so and so ,and their engagement is more likely to break up, than not.
On the other hand you have couples who never gets the chance to go on a TV-show, they live the reality day in day out, and it´s not bright.
What is needed is a sustainable plan that offers affordable housing in high numbers over 20 years , something that has been a scarcity since the late sixties. The problem should be solved by the government and private business in concert, not apartments thrown at people, desperate for an adult life and a family until network ratings, or another idea comes along, and closes down the show. TV´s role in society is not to do charity in the first place, TV should be about education and information and of course entertainment, but to dwell on others missery is not good television, some might argue that this is the ultimate infotainment, but trust me, the only ones who are not aware of the harsh reality on the ground in Egypt, are those who chose to look away, and they are not the ones who need an apartment, blinded by their lifestyle they already live in gated communities, like Qatemiyya Hights and set their eyes firmly on what to wear in Marina next summer.
al Beit beitak? Hard luck, don´t think so!
You can view the clip that goes with the article above, new policy from the BBC dosent alow me to embed the clip, so here is the link.
I´m temporarily changing the name of this blog to Fustat/Duweiqa as a tribute and a symbolic act of solidarity and respect with the victims, families and the people of Duweiqa and the whole area of Manshiyyet Nasser, when they enter a period of mourning and at the same time have to face a life, so dramatically different from what they had only four short days ago.
These last days, i have felt completely numnb, angry, frustrated , all shades of feelings, but most of all the fact that flashes through my mind constantly, that a life is the cheapest commodity in this country it´s totally without value, and exchangeble. The assembly line in Charlie Chaplin´s 1936 classic, Modern Times has been in my head during the last days, letting people work until they can´t anymore and then just throw them away. In the case of Duweiqa, life is as harsh as it gets, but nobody pays attention, until it´s to late, our Prime Minister seemed to somewhat pride himself and his governments´s achievements last February, when he stated in Parliament:
that the new law regulates slums and said that, while slums all over the world are made of tin shanties, in Egypt they are made of reinforced concrete
The have´s in our country plays Russian roulette with the have not´s every single day, and the only time the life of ordinary, but economically less fortunate Egyptians are valued is if they die in some kind of catasthrope that catches the media eye, if Mufti Ali Gouma deems your death important enough to be a martyr, then your life has a prize tag - (5000 E.P).
On Monday night some people tried to organize a vigil for the victims of Duweiqa at Talat Harb in downtown Cairo, they were not alowed to express the most hounorable , and decent feeling of solidarity, compassion and common sorrow. That incident made me write this. The victims of Duweiqa deserves to be remembered, the survivors and the people deserveres better living conditions, unfortunately after the 40 days mourning period is over, the public eye will move elsewhere and most likely the daily life of those who most need our support and respect, will continue as it did prior to last Saturday until it happens again, the promises given, most likely broken and the lives lost in vain, only left in the loving memories of their families.
Lastly i would like to follow the example of my fellow bloggers Marwa Rahkka and Zeinobia and ask for people to help in whatever way they can, this is through a facebook group created by Zed Magazine, but any way and any help and prayers is more than good enough.
Rockslide in Manshiyyet Nasser claims at least 103 lives
A rockslide in the shanty town of Manshiyyet Nasser at the foot of the Muqattam Hills, Cairo has taken at least 18 lives,and at least 22 injured. The death toll is expected to rise sharply.
UPDATE: At least 20 dead according to the BBC. Footage from the BBC Arabic can be found here.
UPDATE II: 1:00 PM Sep 7th - 31 bodies has been confirmed dead after being pulled from under the rubble according to Egyptian authorities and 46 people has been treated in hospitals so far.
UPDATE III: 48 hours after the rockslide the death toll has risen to 38 and 57 wounded according to Health Ministry figures released on Monday morning. Meanwhile this AFP news wire put the number of recovered bodies at 43, quoting an unnamed security official.
UPATE IV: By midday Monday(51 hours after the rocklside), a security official talking to the Associated Press claimed the number of recovered bodies to be 47, the number of injured is at 57. The BBC have the same number of recovered bodies. It seems the equipmment is finally in place, meaning that the work on recovering bodies is moving faster, which means that the death toll will probably climb faster all through Monday. I am not going to be able to blog more, until tonight, when i will try to update and also put this in perspective, but what is clear alraedy is that this is the worst disaster that the area of Manshiyyet Nasr has lived through since the 70´s , although the community has been tested time and time again.
UPDATE VI: 22:00 Tuesday September 9th(85 hours after the Rockslide)- According to Dr Adel Azouz, in charge of Cairo´s Emergency services, 54 bodies have now been recovered. 64 are counted as wounded, as well as 13 of the emergency workers that has been involved in the rescue effort.
During a tour of the area yesterday(Tuesday) by members of parliament and The Governor of Cairo, Abdel Azim Wazir , the Governor promised 2000 houses for those affected by the rockslide, the houses will be given to the families on Friday and a vision of 10 000 units more to help improve the communities was introduced, but this seems to part of the Suzanne Mubarak project in Manshiyyet Nasser. Some of the young men of Duweiqa greeted the V.I.P´s with rocks.
UPDATE VII: Abdel Rahman Hussein of Daily News Egypt puts the recovered bodies at 57, and injured at 70. Appearently the police dispearsed people organizing a vigil for the victims at Talat Harb on Monday night, sometimes you just dont have the right words to express what you feel, this could easily count as one of those rare moments...
UPDATE VIII: Muhammed Sultan, head of the Emergewncy services at the Ministry of Health states that the number of recovered bodies has reached 62.
UPDATE IX: Thursday September 11th - Egyptian authorities comfirm that 72 bodies have been removed from underneath the rubble. This makes it the worst catastrophe in terms of lost lives in the Manshiyyet Nasser area,in 1993, 70 people lost their lives in a similar way, in the nearby neighbourhood of the garbage collectors, Zabaleen.
UPDATE X: Saturday, September 13th - A week after the Rockslide in Duweiqa, 82 bodies have been recovered from underneath the rubble. according to a security official, speaking to the Agence France Presse(AFP). The rescue effort is likely to continue for at least another week according to the same source.
UPDATE XI: Saturday 20th - Two weeks after the rockslide in Duweiqa, 103 bodies have been recovered from underneath the rubble. The rescue effort continues. No one has been found alive from start of the rescue effort.
Rockslide
At approximately 9 AM local time on Saturday September 6th, a rockslide with eight rocks fell on houses in the area, reducing a six-storey house to rubble, in total approximately 35 houses are destroyed and under the rocks, some of them 30 m high and weighing between 60-70 tonnes.
The Civil Defence, police with sniffer dogs and people from one the leading construction companies Osman Ahmed Osman Construction are at the sight, but people are callinhg for more to be done and for a quicker response and the involvement of the Army in the rescue efforts. Most of the rescue efforts until now has been done by hand and by the relatives and neigbours themselves according to newsreports. Eyewitness claim that screams and mobile phones could be heard from people under the rubble.
The initial figures of dead and injured are expected to rise sharply. According to some estimates as many as 350-500 could still be under the rubble, if the death tool goes that high, then this could be the second largest accident in recent history, only topped by the Salam Boccacio 98 disaster in February 2006, claiming over 1000 lives. A train disaster in February 2002 claimed 361 lives.
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