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Ramses Exchange Fire: Egyptian par excellence
Ramses Exchange Fire: Egyptian par excellence

Watani

time6 days ago

  • Watani

Ramses Exchange Fire: Egyptian par excellence

The Ramses Exchange disaster is neither the first of its kind, nor will it be the last as long as Egyptian conditions remain unchanged. On 7 July a huge fire erupted in the main central telecom building situated on Ramses Street, one of Cairo's oldest and busiest telecommunications hubs, and a focal point of Internet services in Egypt. The fire which persisted over two days amid arduous efforts by firefighters to put it off, claimed four lives and 27 injured from among those who worked at the building. The fire halted phone calls and disrupted Internet access nationwide impacting digital banking services such as bank cards, ATM machines and online transactions, all of which could not be accessed. What I write today as I assess the event is definitely not a call for despair nor an attempt to spread pessimism. Quite the contrary, I am confident that our country is moving forward and making steady progress in many fields, as testified by reports of international institutions, and the reality of our daily lives. However true love for our country calls for honest reflection. Between blind praise and destructive pessimism lies a wide space that allows for balanced assessment, and sounds alarm at disconcerting conditions. The aim is to rectify hazards that threaten our nation's path towards security and sustainable development. I stand astounded as I contemplate the Ramses Exchange fire which I insist on branding an Egyptian disaster par excellence. Such a calamity will not be the last as long as underlying conditions remain unchanged. By 'conditions', I refer to guaranteeing the security of crucial institutions and equipping them with hazard prevention systems that automatically activate at the first sign of danger. To say nothing of periodic inspection of the protection and safety mechanisms to ensure their flawless operation when the need arises. As I write this, the technical causes of the fire have not been announced; investigations are ongoing by technical experts and the prosecution. That should uncover what happened, and hold accountable those responsible for it. I reflect here, however, on what took place in the wake of the devastating fire which consumed the building and gripped with panic everyone in the vicinity, as real fear spread of the situation spiralling out of control. Had this occurred, as it did in past cases and would inevitably occur in future cases if conditions remain unchanged, we would have had to confront a horrific scene. And we could only have ourselves to blame for the disgraceful failure in safety and protection measures, and the alarming level of negligence in securing vital facilities. I go back to what I learned as an architecture student more than 50 years ago, about the basics of safeguarding buildings against fire hazards. Buildings whether residential, commercial, industrial, or public, must be fitted with alarm systems designed to detect hazards such as high temperature, smoke or flames. The alarms are programmed to trigger automatically, at the first sign of danger, parallel to safety systems that would isolate the jeopardised section from other sections in the building to prevent the spread of fire. This would be done through activating automatic closure of fire-resistant doors around the impacted section. Simultaneously, the building's anti-fire devices whether water, foam, or carbon monoxide sprinklers, would deploy automatically. These integrated systems are designed to contain and fight the fire until the firefighters arrive. They are designed to make a building self-sufficient in fighting the danger of fire; professional firefighting is required only for big uncontrolled fires. Given the nature of the Ramses Exchange building, with its dense network of cables and communication pathways, security measures should include systems for immediate cut-out of electrical power and any other source of power, to prevent the uncontrolled spread of fire or related hazards through these networks. I do not allude here to modern state-of-the-art technology that we may be unfamiliar with or that cannot be applied to our facilities. What I talk of are long-established mechanisms which I am sure were either installed in the facilities when they were constructed some 50 years ago, or were later added. So where is the problem? The real calamity here lies in the absent role of industrial security and civil protection. This role is not limited to equipping facilities with alarm and protection infrastructure, but extends to the strict enforcement of alarm testing systems, routine inspection, and ensuring the efficiency of alarm and protection systems so that if ever there is an emergency, these systems work as they were designed to. Talk about systematic testing of civil defence and alarm systems leads me to highlight a tragic reality we live through, the dangers of which we only realise when disaster strikes. As with so many disasters, we brush them off as fate rather than failure to anticipate and prepare for danger. In many countries, buildings and facilities are fitted with civil defence and alarm systems. These include routine mock alarms in all public buildings: schools, hotels, offices, malls, hospitals, industrial plants, sports venues, or service facilities. Mock alarms test two crucial matters: the efficiency of evacuation procedures under emergency conditions, including safely navigating escape routes during power cuts; and test the operation of alarm and resistance systems and networks depending on the type of threat. Unfortunately, we never hear of such proactive measures taking place in Egypt. Peculiarly, we have an authority called the Civil Defence Authority, yet its role appears to be limited to setting the safety regulations needed upon licensing buildings to ensure they are equipped for adequate civil defence. But this is it, nothing more. Now we come to the heart of the matter: the critical role of fire trucks, seen by everybody as the first and last line of rescue from fires. What have we done, then, to ensure that fire trucks can promptly reach the site of a fire to contain the blaze before it spirals out of control? And before I go on, let me stress that the problem does not involve fire trucks alone; it extends to all emergency response vehicles including ambulances and police cars. Once an emergency occurs, our congested, chaotic traffic constitutes a huge obstacle that deters and delays the arrival of prompt rescue. We lack any traffic discipline that forces drivers to respect lane markings; drivers occupy multiple lanes and casually drift between them, a four-lane road ends up clogged with seven or eight haphazard rows of vehicles, and a constant swarm of motorcycles aggressively weaves way between cars. What can a wailing siren of police, ambulance, or fire truck achieve? The plea for some passageway to save lives, respond to crises, or extinguish fires goes almost unanswered for practical on-the-ground reasons. I have outlined in detail the severe, perilous shortcomings that put our lives and buildings under great hazard, in the hope of working to reverse the truly grim situation. Only then can safety find its way into our lives. Watani International 18 July 2025 Comments comments Tags: Problems on holdRamses Exchange FireWataniYoussef Sidhom

How Ramses telecom centre fire exposed Egypt's digital vulnerability
How Ramses telecom centre fire exposed Egypt's digital vulnerability

Middle East Eye

time19-07-2025

  • Politics
  • Middle East Eye

How Ramses telecom centre fire exposed Egypt's digital vulnerability

A blaze at Cairo's vital Ramses Exchange crippled telecom, banking and transport systems across Egypt, exposing how years of centralisation and opaque governance have left the country's digital backbone critically exposed. On Monday, 7 July, at around 4pm Cairo local time (2pm GMT), a fire broke out on the upper floors of Ramses data centre in downtown Cairo - a building underpinning much of Egypt's digital connectivity. Minutes later, mobile networks went down. Internet connectivity in at least 20 of Egypt's 27 provinces vanished or became almost inaccessible. Banking apps and payment terminals ceased to function. Emergency hotlines and flight operations were disrupted. For hours, the digital infrastructure of the Arab world's most populous nation malfunctioned. The following day, the government announced that the facility had gone out of service. The fire killed four employees inside the building and injured at least 27 others, including firefighters. The deaths and ensuing chaos reignited scrutiny of safety standards at critical sites. On Thursday evening, just after firefighters had extinguished the blaze, a smaller fire reignited on the upper floor, catching everyone by surprise. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters In the aftermath of the incident, Communications and Information Technology Minister Amr Talaat claimed that emergency services were unaffected. But the fact-checking platform Saheeh Masr proved otherwise: ambulance, police and fire hotlines were all down in multiple provinces. Meanwhile, life in the capital - as well as in Giza, Alexandria and other major provinces - came to a standstill until later the next day. The financial technology sector took a heavy blow. Mobile payment platforms collapsed, ATMs froze and card machines in shops stopped working. The National Bank of Egypt and Banque Misr issued official apologies to their clients. People watch as firefighters extinguish a blaze at the telephone exchange and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology building in central Cairo on 7 July 2025 (AFP) Thousands of Egyptians without enough cash on hand could not fuel their vehicles, pay at restaurants, or use ride-hailing apps. Others were unable to withdraw money from ATMs or transfer funds. Even parents trying to contact their children in day care were cut off. Later that evening and into the night, the Ministry of Civil Aviation confirmed that airport systems had been disrupted, resulting in delays to 69 flights. Egypt's stock exchange suspended trading the following day. Middle East Eye spoke with experts and technology activists who shed light on the scale of the crisis, but requested anonymity due to safety concerns. 'This was not just a glitch. It was a national crisis,' said one communications security expert. 'A single strike on one building paralysed a nation's infrastructure.' Answers demanded As with many fires over the past decades, even before an investigation was launched - and while firefighters were still battling the blaze - officials were quick to pin the incident on 'an electrical short circuit'. However, the fallout quickly reached the lower house of parliament, where lawmakers called for accountability. MP Maha Abdel Nasser described the incident as a 'technological stroke' that froze public services. She filed an urgent inquiry with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, warning of 'immense damage' to governance and public trust. Another MP, Freddy Elbaiady, submitted a similar inquiry, but was ironically unable to send it electronically as the parliament's portal was down. 'This is not about a fire,' he told local media outlets. 'It's about a national system built around one outdated switchboard.' The Ramses facility is not an ordinary node. Built in 1927 under King Fuad I, it originally served as the national hub for telegraph exchange and telephone services. Over time, the centre evolved into Egypt's communications hub, now hosting the Cairo Internet Exchange, inter-operator routing systems and submarine cable landings that connect the country to the global web. 'This is not about a fire. It's about a national system built around one outdated switchboard' - Freddy Elbaiady, MP Despite the communications ministry's claim that Ramses is not the sole hub, metrics suggest otherwise. A public update on X confirmed that network data show national connectivity in Egypt at 62 percent of ordinary levels amid the fire. Masaar, a technology rights foundation, published a research paper on the day following the fire, concluding that the outage seemed immediate and impacted several internet service providers simultaneously - evidence of the Ramses centre's pivotal role in routing internet traffic across the country. The Cairo-based foundation confirmed Egypt's over-reliance on a centralised and outdated telecom infrastructure, where a single incident can trigger sweeping nationwide disruption. Masaar further warned that unless serious investment is made to modernise and diversify the country's digital infrastructure, future disruptions - whether caused by natural disasters, technical failure or cyber-attacks - will remain a real and recurring threat to both state institutions and daily life. 'It is the heart of the whole system. If it stops beating, the body collapses,' a former engineer at the state-owned operator, Telecom Egypt (rebranded as WE), told MEE. Foreseeable outcome Though the fire's cause may have been accidental, telecom analysts argue that the outcome was foreseeable. Experts say basic safeguards - such as failover routes, decentralised data centres and automated recovery protocols - were either missing or ineffective. 'This was a preventable collapse,' said a Cairo-based telecom consultant. 'No critical facility should be a 'single point of failure'. Egypt's billions in digital transformation mean nothing without redundancy.' Technically, a single point of failure is a component that, if it fails, brings down the entire system. It is a critical flaw when no backups or contingency systems are in place. For decades, Egypt's government has been known for tightening its grip on communications services. During the January 2011 uprising, Ramses Exchange reportedly served as the command post for communications blackout and surveillance on activists reportedly ordered by security agencies. In the early hours of 28 January, dubbed 'the Friday of Fury', Egypt's mobile networks and internet services were entirely cut off. Data routing was pulled from global gateways, as later confirmed by organisations such as the OpenNet Initiative. Although Egypt's telecom sector has been officially liberalised, it remains tightly state-controlled. 'This was a preventable collapse' - Telecom consultant 'Telecom Egypt, which is majority-owned by the state, dominates fixed-line infrastructure and leases the backbone to other operators,' an independent telecom consultant said. 'The National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA), which is meant to be independent, is structurally tied to the incumbent ministry,' he added. The World Bank's 2020 Digital Economy Report highlighted this clash of interests, noting: 'The NTRA's dual role as regulator and policy executor creates a high risk of bias… in favour of Telecom Egypt.' The communications minister confirmed in press statements that 'all services have been transferred to alternative centres', but critics argue this confirms that services were centralised at Ramses before the fire. By Wednesday, services had been gradually restored within two days after the incident, but trust remains damaged. Lawmakers have called for transparency amid calls for telecom reform, while the government continues to insist it was an isolated event. Amid such demands, no senior official has accepted responsibility to date. The government has yet to issue a damage assessment or announce a mitigation plan. 'Millions in lost transactions, stock market halts and offline commerce - that's the fallout,' a digital rights advocate argued 'But without transparency, we'll never know the true impact.'

Could AI have prevented the Ramses telecommunications building fire?
Could AI have prevented the Ramses telecommunications building fire?

Egypt Independent

time17-07-2025

  • Science
  • Egypt Independent

Could AI have prevented the Ramses telecommunications building fire?

The concept of a machine predicting an event or disaster, like that of fire which devastated the Ramses telecommunications building or even some natural disasters, might sound like something out of science fiction. Yet its is now a serious topic of discussion- What if AI systems were applied to Egypt's critical infrastructure? Could they have predicted the danger before flames engulfed the network's heart? How exactly could AI predict or prevent disasters such as the Ramses telecommunications building fire? This concept of 'crisis prediction' might seem like a distant technological luxury. In reality it could be a magic solution if properly applied, through using the latest technologies to predict risks before they escalate into catastrophes. During the Ramses Exchange fire, which crippled a vital part of the communications sector, there was no early warning system, no alert to enable responsible authorities to act before the flames spread. This is precisely where AI could play a major role. AI and disaster prediction 'AI doesn't see the future, but it calculates its probabilities,' says AI expert Marco Mamdouh. He explained that while AI cannot literally predict the future, it relies using probability to analyze data and forecast potential scenarios. Mamdouh explained that probability is taught as a fundamental branch within AI sciences. If an AI system is fed accurate data about a building—its structural condition, equipment, and safety systems—it can analyze this information to conclude, for instance, that the building can withstand a limited fire but would be vulnerable to collapse or severe damage if a large-scale blaze erupted. How does this actually work? According to Mamdouh, AI can play a crucial proactive role by: Analyzing structural weaknesses in vital buildings and facilities, providing a regular assessments of risk levels. in vital buildings and facilities, providing a regular assessments of risk levels. Proposing crisis scenarios based on historical data from similar fires: duration, intensity, spread, and damage. based on historical data from similar fires: duration, intensity, spread, and damage. Generating immediate automated solutions to confront the crisis, including evacuation options, strengthening protection measures, and prioritizing response actions. From prediction to loss mitigation: Is the world implementing these measures? 'If equipped with sufficient data, AI can tell you whether a building can withstand specific thermal stress,' he added. 'Will the electrical system hold up in the event of a short circuit? Is there a need to update alarm systems or install additional sensors? AI answers all these questions before we're surprised by a crisis.' He concluded by stating that AI isn't merely an analytical tool; it can serve as a strategic partner in decision-making. When a disaster strikes, rapid decision-making and prioritizing actions become crucial. In these scenarios, smart systems can suggest the fastest ways to gain control, or even automatically shut down systems to minimize damage, much like what occurs in smart factories. Global precedent: AI in action to prevent fires South Korea stands as a real example of this concept's application, having launched AI-powered projects that analyze data from thousands of buildings and classify them by a 'fire risk index.' Rapid response systems were then built for structures highest on the risk list. In the US, municipalities like Atlanta developed AI-driven systems to identify which buildings required immediate inspection, contributing to a significant reduction in the number of fires within just one year. A 2024 study published in the Fire scientific journal showcased researchers developing an advanced model for fire risk prediction using machine learning algorithms based on the Stacking Ensemble method. The model analyzed 34 variables, including building age, type, materials used, and population density in the area, successfully classifying buildings by risk levels. Remarkably, only 22 percent of the buildings in the highest risk category accounted for 54 percent of the fires actually recorded during the study period, demonstrating the model's accuracy and its ability to provide a realistic map of buildings prone to fire hazards.

Egyptian PM apologizes for recent fatal road accidents amid public anger
Egyptian PM apologizes for recent fatal road accidents amid public anger

Egypt Independent

time17-07-2025

  • Politics
  • Egypt Independent

Egyptian PM apologizes for recent fatal road accidents amid public anger

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly has apologized to the public following the string of fatal traffic accidents in recent weeks and the ensuing public outrage over road conditions. 'As a government, we deeply regret some of the accidents that have occurred in recent days. We are not arrogant; we admit it, and we want what's best,' Madbouly stated during a press conference on Wednesday. There are external forces that have an interest in 'attacking the Egyptian state and spreading despair and frustration among citizens, hoping for the state's internal collapse,' he noted. Madbouly added that these parties are aware of Egypt's ability to confront any external threat, 'Which is why they try to weaken the state from within and make citizens lose confidence in the state's administrative capabilities,' he asserted. 'Some countries do not allow anyone to portray a negative image and take aggressive measures against anyone who presents a negative scene of the state.' Madbouly also highlighted the significant development and change the country has witnessed in many sectors. He continued, 'I am not saying no to criticism, because that is a full right of the Egyptian citizen. But what is the general image we want to project to the outside world?' Last month, two major accidents on the Regional Ring Road resulted in 28 deaths and numerous injuries. Additionally, the main Ramses Exchange building in Cairo caught fire, disrupting communications services. These incidents on the Regional Ring Road prompted the government to close the road, which is currently undergoing repairs. Police have also intensified road surveillance to prevent traffic violations and are conducting drug tests for drivers.

media host questions cause of recent fires across Egypt
media host questions cause of recent fires across Egypt

Egypt Independent

time12-07-2025

  • Politics
  • Egypt Independent

media host questions cause of recent fires across Egypt

The massive fire at the Ramses Exchange building in downtown Cairo has highlighted several other simultaneous fires in Egypt, prompting some to warn against a 'conspiracy' targeting the country, RT reported. Media personality and parliamentarian Mostafa Bakry commented on these incidents, wondering, 'Is all this coincidence? Why now? This is just a question, and we await the answer, as it will reveal what is happening and its purpose.' During his show 'Haqa'ek wa Asrar' (Facts and Secrets) on the privately-owned Sada al-Balad channel on Friday, Bakry warned that a war has begun against Egypt and against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi,' referring to attempts to 'increase internal tension and undermine national unity.' Massive fires cripple communications A massive fire broke out on Monday evening which lasted nearly 20 hours at the Ramses telephone exchange building in Cairo, one of the largest communications centers in Egypt. The fire led to a partial interruption of internet, landline, and telephone services, and disrupted financial services such as ATMs and electronic payment. Flight services and banking transactions were also impacted. The fire once again erupted on Friday evening in the back building of the exchange, but Civil Defense was able to quickly control the blaze, which was sparked by 'heat spots' remaining from the initial fire. Several other fires, some large, broke out on Friday in several areas in Giza, Alexandria, and Cairo. A massive blaze engulfed a detergent factory in Badr City. In Alexandria, a fire broke out at a famous hotel on the Corniche Road. A major fire broke out at the Dubai Mall in Sheikh Zayed City, Giza Governorate, reducing the building to ashes. A venomous plot? Bakry also noted that security and agricultural authorities foiled a 'sabotage plot' last week, which involved an attempted smuggling of rare, dangerous and highly venomous animals through the Cairo Airport. 'Forty scorpions from the forests of Vietnam, known for their high toxicity and rapid reproduction, were seized, as were five yellow scorpions from Brazil, one of the most dangerous venomous species, and giant snakes, including the spitting cobra, which poses a threat to wildlife and pets,' he said. He continued, questioning, 'Why did the foreigner bring them with him, and what was the purpose of placing them in a specific location?!'

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