Soapbox:

From the ashes

By Samir Sobhi

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The fire that devoured Egypt's second chamber of parliament did not just destroy one of Cairo's landmarks. It took away part of Egypt's legacy and with it a piece of the nation's self-esteem. Now the ashes are no longer smouldering and nerves, perhaps, less frayed, it is time to assess what should have been done, and what, in the future, we must do.

Fires are not an act of nature. Nor is the damage they cause inevitable. It is a symptom of chaos, a deep-seated failure to make allowances for the unexpected. Mishaps will happen and other countries factor in this probability, designing ways to contain the damage. In Egypt, we do not. It is not that we lack the resources. Egypt possesses both the money and the brains to prevent such disasters. Sadly, we have yet to learn to look ahead and prioritise.

What makes the fire at the Shura Council particularly galling is that an Egyptian has invented a sophisticated method to protect vital institutions from such disasters. His system can protect buildings from fires raging up to 700 degrees Celsius and it is already in use in European and Gulf countries. The man's name is Asaad Gamal Nada and his method, which has been patented in Germany, is still awaiting approval from Egypt's Academy of Scientific Research. Nada's method is regularly used to protect pilgrims' tents in Saudi Arabia. It is particularly effective in protecting artefacts such as books and documents as well as homes.

We have the means, financial as well as technological, to avoid the kind of incident we witnessed last week. But first we need to start thinking differently. We have to anticipate trouble beforehand, not spring into action belatedly. The latter, as an English proverb has it, amounts to locking the stable door after the horse has bolted.

This week's Soapbox speaker is a senior writer at Al-Ahram.