The fires that engulfed northeastern Algeria from July 23 to 25, favored by scorching conditions, claimed thirty-four victims, including sixteen in Béjaïa.
Charred cars, houses and businesses with burnt facades, bruised faces and eyes hollowed out by fatigue… In Béjaïa, in northeastern Algeria, the scars of the disaster are very present. All along the coast road, from where the forest fires started on the night of July 23 to 24, scenes recount the hours of terror experienced by residents still in shock. Looking towards the horizon, the Mediterranean is imperturbable, in its summer calm. But the hills that cascade down to the sea are dotted with black holes, which testify to the virulence of the flames.
Many glass bottles litter the “Oued-Das” valley. This has been identified as one of the possible causes of the fire outbreaks in the area. In Oued-Das, 50 km from Béjaïa, on July 25. SOFIANE BAKOURI
This woman lost her house in a fire, in Aït Oussalah, 47 km from Béjaïa, on July 25. She says: “Before the fire, we were very poor but we had a roof. Today, we have nothing at all. » SOFIANE BAKOURI
Between July 23 and 25, 140 fires broke out across seventeen wilayas (administrative divisions) in the northeast of the country, killing thirty-four people, including ten soldiers, and injuring 325. The fires led to the evacuation of 1,500 inhabitants, destroyed homes and burned hectares of forest and crops, although this damage cannot yet be quantified.
The fires were brought under control thanks to “the mobilization of 8,000 civil protection agents and officers, and more than 530 fire trucks, planes and helicopters, in addition to the mobilization of resources from various the State, the National People’s Army, private establishments and citizens”, according to the Ministry of the Interior, which specifies that a commission has been set up to speed up the compensation of victims.
” A trauma “
The images of the fires, shared in real-time on social networks, reflected the scale of the disaster. On the videos arriving from Béjaïa, we see citizens escaping from the villages surrounded by fires, to take refuge on the beaches, while the smoke fills the air and the redness of the flames swallows the green of the hills.
Fifteen people who left Aït Oussalah, towards the coast, perished in a traffic accident which took place while they were trapped by the flames, on July 25, 2023. SOFIANE BAKOURI
A man testifies to the speed with which the fire surprised everyone in the night. The fifteen people who died in a road accident were members of his family. In Aït Oussalah, 47 km from Béjaïa, on July 25. SOFIANE BAKOURI
” A trauma. This is how Karim Guougil, elected to the popular communal assembly of Toudja, in Béjaïa, summarizes his experience of the disaster. Among the thirty-four victims of the fires, sixteen were decimated in Béjaïa, including seven members of the same family. “The fires broke out at the foot of the villages on the Oued Dass coast around midnight. We slept with one eye that night while setting up a duty station. The fires reached us at 4 a.m.,” he recalls.
A race against the clock then begins for the inhabitants of the village, in order to shelter the most vulnerable people, including children and seniors, and to save the belongings that could be saved. A fight that proved to be lost in advance since the flames were pushed at a dizzying speed by scorching winds. “The images are unbearable. I almost lost my three-year-old son to the smoke. Everyone is still in shock”, summarizes Karim, who is also the president of the Tagmat association in the village of Souk El-Djemaa.
A lack of resources
The fires, brought under control after forty-eight hours, and the terror they caused gave way to mobilization. The wilayas spared by the fires went to the bedside of those affected, from the first hours following the disaster. Humanitarian donations, including food, medicine and mineral water, have been sent in convoys to the affected areas. Psychologists also made the trip to take care of victims suffering from post-traumatic shock.
People moved to offer presence and assistance, in the village of Aït Oussalah, on July 25, 2023. SOFIANE BAKOURI
The forest fires came to crown an unprecedented heat wave that affected northern Algeria and during which temperatures approached 50 ° C. But, like the summer of 2021 (90 dead) and the summer of 2022 (26 dead), during which deadly fires ravaged several regions of the country, the Algerian State once again denounced fires in criminal background. Arrests began even before the fires were fully brought under control. Algerian justice announced on Thursday the provisional detention of twelve people implicated, pending their trial.
The victims, they remain marked by the heat waves, which facilitated the conflagration of the region. “I can’t accuse anyone,” says Karim. These fires come after several days of unprecedented heat wave. We also believe that the winds, whose speed has been estimated at 140 kilometers per hour, favored the rapid spread of the flames.”
On the side of the population, the lack of means to deal with these fires worries more than their origin. “It’s the same scenario that has been repeated for several years, and every summer we face the same lack of means,” denounces Ahlem, 30, from Béjaïa, but living in Algiers for work. “This is another ordeal. We are away from our families, and as each summer approaches, the anxiety grows, points out Ahlem. We don’t know if the flames will ignite, or where and when they will ignite. We thus live in stress, hoping that our loved ones will be spared. The stress must be even higher among people from the diaspora.”
