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- <text id=92TT2435>
- <title>
- Oct. 26, 1992: Egypt's Killer Quake
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1992
- Oct. 26, 1992 The Iceman's Secrets
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- THE WEEK, Page 22
- WORLD
- Egypt's Killer Quake
- </hdr><body>
- <p>Over 500 are dead and thousands injured, but the Sphinx survives
- </p>
- <p> Measuring 5.9 on the richter scale, the earthquake that shook
- Cairo last Monday was only a medium-size tremor by world
- standards. But Cairo's densely overcrowded neighborhoods, the
- rickety state of much of the city's older housing and the shoddy
- construction of some of the city's newer buildings combined to
- turn it into an unprecedented national disaster. The 40-second
- tremor, felt as far away as Jerusalem, sent Cairo residents
- scrambling into the streets. As casualty reports flowed in from
- the capital and outlying provinces, Egypt's President Hosni
- Mubarak hastily interrupted a trip to China. Egyptian officials
- estimate that more than 500 people have been killed and 6,500
- injured. Many dazed residents remained so panic stricken that
- they spent the rest of the week camping out of doors.
- </p>
- <p> Arab states ranging from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to Libya
- quickly pledged up to $180 million in aid, and Japan promised
- to donate $600,000. Although most of Cairo's more modern
- buildings came through the quake relatively unharmed, there were
- scenes of terrible devastation, particularly in the older
- neighborhoods. But Egypt's ancient monuments, including the
- Sphinx and the Pyramids, survived unscathed.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
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