Landslide

I’m dissapointed to be writing under these circumstances. I said I wouldn’t be posting anymore, but there was a major disaster today in Cairo which I felt was worth sharing as I’ve visited the area that was effected several times, and well, I think it’s worth writing about.

There was a major rockslide in Mashniet Nasser, one of the slums that borders Moqqatam. The neighborhood rests against the side of the mountain, and today some natural act brough down several massive boulders which flattened large portions of the neighborhood.

While natural disasters are a part of life, it’s the response to this situation that is uniquely Egyptian and what motivated me to write about the incident.

It took six hours before members of the governments Civil Defense unit arrived with shovels and pickaxes to begin the rescue attempt. Armed police had shown up earlier, but only to prevent crowds from from getting near the boulders, they stood by and watched as the residents desperately struggled to rescue neighbors, friends and family. Heavy machinery has still not arrived to begin rescue attempts since the latest news story was filed.

This from the NYTimes:

Tempers began boiling over, because while the neighbors struggled, forming lines to pull debris away, many police officers were present but doing nothing. “You come here to sit in the shade!” a woman screamed at a group of police officers seated on the ground.

One officer said, “People are emotional; we have to keep them calm.” He refused to give his name, his rank or even his branch of the Interior Ministry. He said, “We all have our responsibilities.”

A responsibility to sit on one’s ass apparently. This incident brings to light a lot of issues within Egypt; an ineffectual government, the poverty situation, cultural laziness and reliability (often times the lack thereof), and “let things fall” mentality which seems to pervade urban and civic planning.

As the Times pointed out, just a month ago the Parliment building caught on fire, and there was little emergency response, with the result being the building burned to the ground. All across Cairo the answer to decay always seems to be, built new, built somewhere else, leave the past in the past. Perhaps this is actually an advanced intellectual position, but I have yet to buy that line of reasoning.

Politics aside, it’s strange imagining this neighborhood I often drove by at sunrise or sunset lying under boulders the size of hills. I’m not Egyptian, I’m not living there anymore, so perhaps I shouldn’t write about the political situation there. Watch the video, it’s the best attempt I can make at a “No Comment” on the situation.