Algeria: Protests Follow Fatal Flood

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The Algerain town of Ghardaia witnessed an angry crown of nearly 5,000 people taking to the streets and demanding emergency aid after flash floods had ravaged the area.

There were 31 people killed during the floods.

The rally was broken up by local police just before protesters reached the town hall to demand basic food supplies and equipment to help search for survivors or bodies buried in the mud and rubble.

Basic goods and medicines are in short supply due to flood damage.

The hundreds of people made homeless by the inundation were assisted by aid teams and the army was deployed to prevent looting, state radio reported.

The town is a UN World Heritage site and is located 600km south of the capital, Algiers, at the entrance to the Algerian desert in the M'Zab valley.

Fifty people were injured and about 1,000 made homeless in the town,

Ahmed Ouyahia, the prime minister, gave "strict orders for victims of the natural catastrophe to be taken care of by releasing" unrestricted funds, Djamel Ould Abbas, the minister for national solidarity said on Friday.


The interior ministry sent tents, generators and 400 tonnes of first aid, but residents said they needed emergency supplies more quickly.

Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni, the interior minister, said the floods were the worst in the country for a century. Residents reported sweeping damage.

A resident of El-Gaba, a village near Ghardaia, said: "Hundreds of houses have been destroyed but thousands have been damaged and are uninhabitable in the area.

Another resident said four people from the village had died and three others were missing in the "unimaginable catastrophe".

One resident said nearly all the homes would have to be rebuilt. Gas and electricity supplies have been partially restored.