The Sinai Peninsula, the Upper Egyptian city of Aswan and other areas in Egypt were recently inundated with torrential rains. And, once again, the same scenario of incompetence and failure unfolded as the state stood idly by as hundreds of people were rendered homeless while others died under the rubble of fallen buildings.
These rains can’t compare with the earthquake in Haiti, which killed at least 100,000 people and left hundreds of thousands without food or shelter; nor are they of the same magnitude as the 2004 Indonesian tsunami. They were merely heavy rains, which had been forecast by the meteorological authority. Even schoolchildren learn about these rains–which fall this time of year, every year–in their geography classes.
But our government–with its everything-will-be-fine mindset–is always unduly optimistic. As many as 95 canals have been dug in Egypt to accommodate excessive rainwater. Unfortunately, though, some people used these artificial watercourses as garbage dumps or built structures on them. So when the rains fell, the resultant floods ended up destroying the flimsy homes in their path instead of flowing harmlessly into the canals.
Regardless of forecasts by the "pessimistic" meteorological authority, and the fact that the state has spent millions to purchase equipment to predict bad weather conditions–which generally happen at the same time ever year–we nevertheless appear incapable of learning from our mistakes.
Egypt saw similar torrential rains in 1996 and 1998. But by far the deadliest were those of 1994, when rain destroyed numerous homes, flooded streets and submerged large expanses of cultivated land. Then there was the Dronka village fire in the same year, which broke out when rainwater combined with petroleum compounds in a disaster that left hundreds killed or injured.
After that, we began hearing of plans, committees, meetings and recommendations–all made with the aim of adequately dealing with future rains and flooding. But this was as far as it went: just words, words and more words.
Those who built illegally on the canals may be responsible to some extent, but what responsibility do the state and local councils have for the current state of unpreparedness? Would those that built on the canals have done so if there had been other viable places to build homes? How could the canals have been allowed to turn into garbage dumps in the first place? And aren’t local councils supposed to be responsible for collecting garbage anyway?
It’s corruption again, which continues to be rife. And this time, the corruption has dammed up the very canals that should have protected locals from the rains and floods.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
