Between July 2012 and June 2013 392 residential building collapsed in Egypt, of which 52 percent were due to lack of government regulation, according to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR.)
Launched Saturday, EIPR’s new site egyptbuildingcollapses.org includes detailed statistics behind these collapses, which have killed 192 people and left 824 families homeless.
The collapse of an 11-story building in Alexandria in July 2012 that left 20 dead, and the need to find solutions for the collapses were the reasons behind the focus on this phenomenon said EIPR researcher Yehia Shawkat in a Saturday statement.
“Despite the presence of laws and regulations governing housing and constructions, like the 2008 Construction Law, the absence of government regulation and enforcement of these laws and standards led to the spread of collapses,” read the statement.
There were 317, 948 unlicensed buildings and over 25,000 violating buildings established during the period from Jan. 2009 to Dec. 2012, where most of the thousands of demolition decisions were not implemented, said head of Technical Body for inspecting construction works of Housing Ministry Hassan Allam to Al-Ahram in Jan. 23, 2013.
“Third of these violating buildings were built before the January 25 Revolution, most of which were established on agricultural lands,” added Allam.
Allam said that Gharbiya governorate had 40,000 illegal buildings, followed by 36,000 in Dakahlia, 34,000 in Minya, 32,000 in Sharqia and Giza each, and 17,000 in Cairo.
According to the EIPR statistics, dilapidated buildings caused 29 percent of total collapses when combined with a lack of government regulation and enforcement.
Other peripheral causes were due to ground water, acts of nature, fires and explosions and infrastructure failure.
The EIPR demanded officials in the local administrations, police and technical inspection body to strictly address this phenomenon and apply relevant laws.