CAIRO – Nearly three weeks after a big fire killed four people and damaged a branch of Egypt’s national telecommunications provider, people are still frustrated with the slow restoration of internet services.
Listen to the author read this story:
The July 7 fire took place in downtown Cairo in the Ramses Central building, which is a branch of Telecom Egypt. It plagued downtown Cairo with a burning smell, irritation between civilians, and an internet blackout for many customers for hours on end.
A second, smaller fire broke out July 10.
In addition to disrupting mobile telephone connections, banking services were on hold and the stock exchange was temporarily closed, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Communications.
Egyptian and international news outlets reported that four people died and more than two dozen others were hurt in the first fire.
It’s unclear what started either fire, but Egypt saw firsthand how much the country relied on such a building.
Residents of Alexandria – more than 200 kilometers, or 125 miles away – felt the effects of the fires for almost a week.
While services are now mostly restored, people are still talking about the impact of the fires and the response to the emergency.
Noor Abotaleb, 18, is having his summer vacation at home in Alexandria. A heavy user of the internet, Abotaleb was for more than a week “stuck frustrated at such an inconvenience that could have been easily avoidable.”
Abotaleb and others had a difficult time reaching customer service.
This behavior, Abotaleb said, was “recklessness and unprofessionalism from the company.”
No internet provider had made statements or posts regarding the blackout users were experiencing, Abotaleb said.
According to news reports, 10 firetrucks were on the scene that day, but they struggled to tame the fire for almost three hours. Firefighter services were able to put out the fire much more quickly during the second blaze.
Abotaleb further said the handling of the first fire was “reflective of the state of the country,” mentioning aid helicopters sent to Israel in 2019 for a fire that had broke out in Jerusalem.
“We give helicopters to other countries, but we have none for us,” Abotaleb said. “We only had 10 firetrucks? That’s it? Watching it on the TV made me feel like it was just for show, and we were supposed to be wowed by the capabilities of the firetruck. We get fed this idea that we don’t have amenities like first-world countries because of overpopulation, but in reality, it’s an excuse to hide behind their greed. The fire department in Egypt needs funding, and there needs to be a complete reform of the system.”
Average Egyptians are frustrated and continuing to talk about safety and regulations, speculating about how the fires occurred and why Egypt’s telecommunications infrastructure isn’t as well connected as it should be.
Jana Salama is a Reporter with Youth Journalism International.
