The Ministry of Social Solidarity has decided to grant EGP 5,000 as compensations and EGP 300 as monthly subsistence allowance for the stranded families in Imbaba, following the collapse of a building in the neighbourhood, said Social Solidarity Minister Ghada Wali.
Wali has also called on the social solidarity ministry officials in Giza and rescue personnel to support the impacted families with the needed resources they are relocated.
Charity organisation Resala has also sent aid to the families and children, who are now living in tents after fleeing their homes. Resala also called on other Egyptians to support the impacted families.
On Thursday a six-floor building collapsed after a neighbouring building was demolished. However, until Sunday, families told Daily News Egypt they have not received any funds from the government and all the aid they received was from families and neighbours inside Imbaba.
“I am now three months pregnant and I have a young girl with special needs. We have been staying here for almost a week. It is hard to go anywhere to get medicine or anything for my children, as we are surrounded by the [damage caused by the] collapsed building,” said Salma Abdel Fattah, one of the residents living next to the collapsed building, who had to leave her apartment due to the district authority’s decision to evacuate the area.
According to Abdel Fattah, moving out of Imbaba would be impossible, as she cannot afford to live far away with her children in schools located in the district. Many families also have commitments in the same neighbourhood of Abu Raya.
Residents claim the demolition process took place without an engineer, or any other official, visiting the field. They allege that the woman took the initiative by herself, and used a bulldozer to destroy the building.
Five days later, the neighbouring six-floor building collapsed, with several other surrounding buildings sustaining damage in the process. The residents do not know the whereabouts of the woman who was responsible for the demolition, as she fled the neighbourhood immediately.
Imbaba is one of many locations in Egypt in which many buildings are on the verge of collapse due to poor maintenance and deteriorating conditions. During a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Minister of Urban Development Laila Iskandar announced that 356 informal settlements in Egypt recently underwent monitoring and were classified as rundown areas. Those areas, she said, are experiencing problems relating to construction, have no drainage systems, and have very high populations, which are all threats that could lead to collapse.
Many of the neighbourhood’s buildings are poorly constructed and have no solid concrete. Residents living in the neighbouring buildings to that which collapsed said they felt their houses shake while the building collapsed.
