Algeria: “Rainy and bitterly cold winter… flooding expected this year”

Experts and specialists have sounded the alarm, warning against the numerous haphazard constructions built over fragile and shaky lands in various parts of Algeria stressing this could endanger the lives of both the visitors and residents of these buildings which might crumble down at any time especially in the face of floods and earth tremors.

Seasoned expert and head of major risks’ Club, Abdul Karim Chalghoum, expressed in a statement to “Echorouk” great fear about the reliability and solidity of many modern buildings initiated as part of the so-called century projects, which were built in some parts of the capital notably in Beni Messous, Ain Benian, El Hamiz, Sidi Abdallah and Bounian.

He asserted to this effect that these buildings, including newly-built housing units, represent in fact a real danger for the lives of residents or visitors alike as they were built mostly on shaky and brittle ground, making them most vulnerable to possible massive floods and earthquakes which might affect the country in the future.

For his part, an expert in Astronomy and Geophysics, Loth Bonatiro, underlined that the winter season of this year will be rainy and extremely cold, with an expected severe drop in temperatures.

Loth Bonatiro further argued that this expected climatic turbulences would increase the risk of flooding in the coming months, stressing that the buildings in which the construction norms and criteria were respected will be generally able to withstand the shock in case of bad weather-related accidents or earth tremors, but those where these construction norms were not fully abided by, they could be prone to serious damage or even collapse, as he put it.