Death, destruction and anger
Algerian government pledges investigation as hopes for finding survivors dwindle. Hassan Alaoui reports
Click to view caption |
A bulldozer demolishes destroyed buildings damaged by Algeria's devastating earthquake
|
Amidst rising fears of the spread of looting and disease, angry Algerians called for the resignation of President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika as bulldozers began demolishing uninhabitable buildings devastated last week by North Africa's worst earthquake since 1980.
With 2,217 people dead, another 9,087 wounded, nearly 2,000 missing and thousands rendered homeless, shocked Algerians blamed the government for the weak construction that caused new apartment blocks to easily collapse. Although Housing Minister Mohamed Hamimidi pledged to open an investigation, angry residents in several towns and villages continued to blame the government for the careless construction and feeble rescue efforts. Bouteflika launched an appeal to Arab and Islamic states to send badly needed aid to lift the moral of the people.
A stunned Bouteflika was forced on Saturday to flee Boumerdes, one of the towns devastated by the earthquake, when an angry crowd pelted his convoy and shouted "pouvoir assassin!" (The authorities -- killers). Even under heavy escort, the president had no choice but to leave the scene after a short visit that lasted no more than five minutes.
Meanwhile, hopes of finding survivors continued to dwindle. Authorities raced against time to prevent the outbreak of disease as bodies buried under the debris rotted in temperatures that rose above 30 degrees. Civil protection officials ordered rescue workers to wear masks and spray affected areas with chemicals.
Days after the quake, thousands of people continued to sleep outdoors for fear that after-shocks could bring down buildings weakened by the earth's shudders. "We don't know if the buildings are OK. We need experts to come and tell us if we can go," said Salah Aouras, who camped out with his six children near what was left of his home. "We are still feeling the after-shocks and can't take the risk."
Rescue teams with sniffer dogs, listening devices and heavy machinery searched through the rubble of buildings flattened by the quake as authorities worked to restore damaged telecommunications, power and water lines.
But Algerians were increasingly venting their anger, saying the government had allowed unsafe buildings to be constructed in the country's quake-prone Mediterranean coast. One of these buildings was the most famous apartment tower in the town of Reghaia east of Algiers, now laying in smouldering ruins and reeking of decaying human flesh.
Hundreds of residents were crushed under the single 10-storey building when the force of the earthquake sent it crashing to the ground. Local residents say at least 800 tower residents lost their lives, while the authorities put the toll closer to 300. Either way, it was a scene of terrible mass destruction.
Unlike the stricken nearby town of Boumerdes, there were no teams of foreign rescue workers or sniffer dogs searching for survivors. Instead, a large crowd of stunned locals were scrabbling on a mountain of rubble with shovels and their bare hands. Their fury was apparent as they scraped away amid the dust, their haunted faces covered with makeshift masks.
"At least 1,000 people lived here. Everyone thinks more than 800 are dead," said Slimane Chabouni, 24, a resident of this poor district. "Deformed bodies have been taken out. You can smell the burning flesh," he said. Boumerdes accounted for about half of the death toll.
An apartment block across from Chabouni's home used to be home to nearly 100 families. The block, known as Soumane City, crumbled under the impact of the quake and was transformed into a 10-metre-high mound of concrete, twisted rods, mattresses, furniture and personal belongings of dead or missing residents. Many Algerians cannot understand why old buildings, some of them dating back to the French occupation, remained more or less intact when the new ones crumbled like packs of cards. One answer could be that contractors were cheating their clients by using cheap building materials.
Sitting on his balcony overlooking the devastation, Chabouni showed photographs of his classmates. "He is dead. She is dead, she is dead," he said. "Here's our basketball team. My mate here with the ball in his hands, he is dead."
Still, a flicker of hope came when a Spanish volunteer rescue worker on Friday rescued Emilie Kaidi, two, from the rubble of her apartment in Corso, east of Algiers. A door that fell on a television set protected Kaidi from a certain death and her constant cries for her mother, who escaped injury, led rescue workers to her. Kaidi's father was lightly injured in the quake.
French rescue workers meanwhile pulled another baby girl out of a hole cut in the roof of her collapsed apartment block.
Her release after more than 36 hours was bittersweet for her father: six members of his family were still missing.
"She is coming, she is coming," shouted one rescue worker as Youssra Hamenniche, two, was lifted through a hole and whisked away to the nearest hospital. "I thank everyone, you've done an incredible job," beamed Samir Hamenniche. Though elated that his daughter survived the quake, Hamenniche was fast losing hope that six other family members, including Youssra's mother, remained alive.
Unfortunately, this bright moment amid the desolation could not hide the high death toll. The chief cleric of the main mosque in Algiers told worshipers Friday that the calamity was a message from God to those who had chosen to forget him. "People think the earthquake is a natural phenomenon, they think they can explain it trough science," Mohamed Slimane said in a sermon that was televised on national television. "They forget who is behind it. It is God."
