2008 Cairo landslide

The 2008 Cairo landslide happened on September 6, 2008, in el-Deweika, an informal settlement in the Manshiyat Naser neighborhood of east Cairo, Egypt. 119 people died in the rockslide.[1]

Boulders weighing as much as 70 tons rolled into the shantytown following the landslide.[2] After most of the neighborhood had been flattened, those families still living in the slum were evicted and any remaining buildings were flattened by the government.[2] As a result hundreds of families were left homeless and many still live in squalor near the site of the disaster, despite government promises to find them homes.[3]

The cause of the landslide has not been definitively determined, but theories included leaked sewage from development projects that eroded rocks.[4][5] An internal investigation determined that the slide was caused by "fate" and no one would be blamed for it.[6]

Amnesty International reports that thousands of Egyptians still continue to live in unsafe slums.[3]

According to Amnesty International, authorities failed to evacuate the impoverished residents and provide them with temporary or alternative housing. People living in areas deemed unsafe in Al-Duwayqa and Ezbet Bekhit were forced out in a manner which breached the international standards that states must observe while carrying out evictions. [7]

In May 2010, a court found Mahmoud Yassin, a Cairo deputy governor, guilty of negligence and sentenced him for 5 years of imprisonment. Seven other officials were sentenced to 3 years each.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 Egypt jails government officials over Cairo rockslide BBC
  2. 1 2 Following the rockfall, Egyptian slum dwellers have little more than hope Christian Science Monitor, March 20, 2009.
  3. 1 2 Cairo's poorest risk being buried alive in their homes Amnesty International
  4. ↑ Emaar accused of culpability in Duweiqa rockslide Daily News, Egypt.
  5. ↑ Compounding the Loss Al-Ahram, Egypt.
  6. ↑ Egypt’s Deadly Infrastructure Problems
  7. ↑ "Egypt: Buried alive; trapped by poverty and neglect in Cairo's informal settlements". ReliefWeb. 2009-11-12. Retrieved 2016-04-29.

Coordinates: 30°02′45″N 31°17′18″E / 30.0457°N 31.2882°E / 30.0457; 31.2882


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