Egypt: Landslide - Sep 2008

The Egyptian authorities must take immediate and inclusive steps to protect Cairo's poorest inhabitants living in 'unsafe areas' where they are at risk from rockslides and other dangers, Amnesty International said in a new report released today.

"Thousands of Egypt's poor are trapped by poverty and neglect that could ultimately end in their deaths," said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa director.

"The government must urgently address the risks faced by those living in areas designated as 'unsafe' and …

1. INTRODUCTION

   "We are buried alive under the dust"

   Fathy, resident of Haret Ahmed Nader in Al-Duwayqa

   Between 8:30am and 9:20am on 6 September 2008, huge boulders and rocks crashed down Al-Muqattam Hill in Al-Duwayqa onto Ezbet Bekhit in the Manshiyet Nasser neighbourhood of east Cairo, home to around a million of the city's poorest residents. By the time the terrifying roar subsided, 107 people were dead and 58 lay injured, according to officials.

Executive summary

The North Africa region, made up of Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia, is economically diverse with rich, resource abundant economies like Algeria and Libya and countries that are resource scarce relative to their population size such as Egypt and Morocco.

CHRISTINA SCOTT

A marriage between the only two civilian high-power computing centres in Africa should help improve disaster response times and track epidemics using satellite data.

The one partner is the Centre for High Performance Computing, based at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research's Meraka Institute in Cape Town.

This report covers the period 01/01/2008 to 31/12/2008.

Programme purpose: The International Federation's North Africa regional representation, in line with the Global Agenda Goals of the International Federation, continues to provide essential support in facilitating the development of the five National Societies in the North Africa region. This is being achieved by building their capacities and providing technical support to the four core areas of disaster management, health and care, capacity development, and promotion of Fundamental Principles and Humanitarian Values.

GLIDE n=B0 LS-2008-000153-EGY

The International Federation's Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) is a source of un-earmarked money created by the International Federation in 1985 to ensure that immediate financial support is available for Red Cross Red Crescent response to emergencies. The DREF is a vital part of the International Federation's disaster response system and increases the ability of National Societies to respond to disasters.

Summary: CHF 249,198 (USD 218,000 or EUR 164,760) was allocated from the International Federation's Disaster Relief Emergency Fund …

This report covers the period 01/01/2008 to 30/06/2008.

In brief

Programmes purpose: The regional support plan 2008-2009, in line with the Global Agenda (GA) Goals of the International Federation, focuses on facilitating the development of the five National Societies in the North Africa region by building their capacities and providing technical support to the four core areas of disaster management, health and care, capacity development, and promotion of Fundamental Principles and Humanitarian Values.

Programmes summary: Political and social tensions in addition to violence have …

Executive summary

The regional support plan for North Africa for 2009-2010, in line with the Global Agenda Goals of the International Federation, focuses on facilitating the development of the five National Societies by building their capacities and providing technical support to the four core programmes of disaster management, health and care, the Fundamental Principles and humanitarian values as well as organizational development.

Highlights

The Secretary-General condemned in the strongest possible terms the suicide attack against a United Nations convoy in southern Afghanistan on 15 September. The attack, in Kandahar Province, killed two doctors working for WHO, as well as their driver, all of whom were Afghan nationals. The doctors, traveling in clearly marked United Nations vehicles, were carrying out a polio vaccination campaign.

GLIDE n=B0 LS-2008-000153-EGY

The International Federation's Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) is a source of un-earmarked money created by the Federation in 1985 to ensure that immediate financial support is available for Red Cross and Red Crescent response to emergencies.

Cairo_(dpa) _ Another rockslide occurred on Tuesday in the Doweiqa shanty town on the outskirts of Cairo, the scene of an accident where hundreds of people were killed on September 6 when rocks dislodged from a cliff overhang.

No casualties were reported from Tuesday's rockslide as the area had been cordoned off by police.

The official death toll from the earlier accident has reached 101, security sources told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa.

CAIRO, 16 September 2008 (IRIN) - Thousands of slum dwellers displaced by the 6 September rockslide at Dweiqa and Ezbat Bekhiet face an uncertain fate as they camp out on the streets of Cairo's oldest slum, Manshiet Nasser.

CAIRO, Sept 13 (Reuters) - The death toll from a rock fall that buried dozens of homes in a Cairo shanty town last week rose to at least 82 people, with 54 injured, security officials said on Saturday.

The officials said rescue workers pulled out the corpses of Halima Mohamed, and her three-year-old daughter Habiba on Saturday.

Rescue workers backed by bulldozers and jack hammers prepared to work on a huge boulder that crushed four homes in the shanty town on the eastern edge of Cairo.

One official put the death toll at 84 and said rescue workers have a lot more rubble to shift.

Cairo_(dpa) _ The number of people confirmed dead as a result of Saturday's rockslide in Cairo reached 75 and is feared likely to climb, six days after hundreds of tons of limestone came crashing down upon the Doweiqa neighbourhood, Egyptian security sources said.

On Saturday, eight rocks, weighing between 100 and 500 tons, separated from the cliff face and crashed down on some 35 houses lying at the foot of Moqattam hill in a massive shanty town Manshiet Nasser on the edge of the Egyptian capital.

According to the Middle East News Agency (MENA), hundreds of Doweiqa citizens have …

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.

The International Federation's Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) is a source of un-earmarked money created by the International Federation in 1985 to ensure that immediate financial support is available for Red Cross and Red Crescent response to emergencies. The DREF is a vital part of the International Federation's disaster response system and increases the ability of National Societies to respond to disasters.

CHF 249,198 (USD 221,153 or EUR 156,260) has been allocated from the International Federation's Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the Egyptian Red …

By Mohammad Hasan

CAIRO, Sept 10 (KUNA) -- Efforts are continuing to lift from under the rubble the bodies of victims of Al-Mokattam Mountain rockslide that hit the shanty town of Duwaika on Saturday, while the government holds meetings to look into the situation there and hasten the execution of the urban development plans for that area.

The preliminary death toll stands at 57, with another 58 wounded.

LE CAIRE, 8 septembre 2008 (IRIN) - Quelques jours à peine après l'incendie qui a ravagé la chambre haute du Parlement égyptien, au cour du Caire, la capitale égyptienne a été le théâtre d'une autre catastrophe, le 6 septembre, lorsque des éboulements ont balayé 50 habitations dans un bidonville de l'est de la ville.

Ces crises ont souligné les lacunes en matière de mesures publiques de planification urbaine et le manque de respect des mesures de sécurité, selon les observateurs.

D'après les responsables des services de sécurité, environ huit blocs de pierre de …

This bulletin is being issued for information only. Up to 200 people are feared to have been buried under their homes after rockslides crushed a shantytown in the eastern Duwayqa area on 6 September 2008. Reports indicated that at least eight boulders - each estimated to weigh about 70 tonnes - fell from the towering cliffs overlooking the district at about 09.00 local time (07.00 GMT). 30 people have been declared dead, and 49 injured. 50 homes have been destroyed in the impoverished and densely populated Manshiyet Nasr neighbourhood.