EGYPT: Death toll from rockslide rises to 61

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To vent their rage at a state that they say is failing them, residents of the Douaiqa slum, recently devastated by the slide of massive boulders, clashed with the police over allegations that the government may stop rescue efforts for scores of missing people, according to a news report in El-Masry El-Youm.

The independent daily reported that the Douaiqa residents threw stones Tuesday at the police, accusing authorities of not moving quickly enough to recover bodies.

Meanwhile, the state news agency announced that the death toll rose to 61. Hundreds of victims are believed to still be trapped under the boulders; however, there is little hope of finding survivors.

Boulders weighing 70 tons fell on numerous homes in the shanty neighborhood last Saturday. Residents have been criticizing the government over inefficient rescue efforts. The incident has exposed the social chasm in Egypt by bringing into the limelight the dehumanizing life conditions in slum areas and awakening the disenchantment of Cairo’s poor.

The catastrophe was regarded by local observers as more evidence of the failure of President Hosni Mubarak’s regime, which has sought to diffuse the public outrage by announcing financial compensation and new houses for the victims’ families.

— Noha El-Hennawy in Cairo

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