The famous blue and white village, perched above the Bay of Carthage, has suffered rains of intensity not seen in 70 years. Rocks have already come off the hill, threatening homes.
Perched on a hill overlooking Carthage Bay, the blue and white village of Sidi Bou Saïd, Tunisia, is a must for tourists. But this jewel of heritage, already weakened, is even more threatened since recent bad weather.
« Exceptional » rains, of unprecedented intensity for more than 70 years according to the National Institute of Meteorology and having killed at least five people, have hit several regions of the country, including the northern suburbs of Tunis, where Sidi Bou Saïd is located.
Loose rocks
Since then, some of its winding alleys, famous for their pink bougainvilleia and traditional studded wooden doors, have been lined with rocks that have come off the hill. Others are obstructed by large amounts of clay soil.
« The situation is delicate » and « requires urgent intervention, » explains Mounir Riabi, regional director of the Civil Protection of Tunis, to AFP.« Some homes are (threatened by) imminent danger, » he says.
Protected site in Tunisia, Sidi Bou Saïd, immortalized by the painter Paul Klee and place of residence of writers André Gide and Michel Foucault, is waiting for a response from UNESCO to his request for registration on the World Heritage List.
Evacuated shops
The hill was not the scene of such a spectacular landslide as that of Niscemi, observed recently in Sicily, on the other side of the Mediterranean. But residents told AFP that they feared that houses would collapse.
Maya, 50, was forced to temporarily leave her large family villa, built a hundred years ago facing the sea. « Everything went very quickly. I was with my mother and suddenly, extremely violent torrents of rain fell. I saw a mass of mud pouring down the house, then the power was cut off. I was really scared, » says this Tunisian who prefers not to give her last name to AFP. The Moorsh-style house was badly damaged.
One of the workers on site, Saïd Ben Farhat, explains that the soaked earth that slipped from the hill destroyed a kitchen wall. « Another intense rain and it will be a disaster! » he warns.
As a precaution, the local authorities have ordered that stalls in the center of the village be evacuated and prohibit the access of heavy goods vehicles but also visitor buses to this area, much to the great disgrace of the sellers of artisanal products living from tourism.
Picturesque architecture
« We want to work, Mr. President! » they shouted to the Head of State Kais Saied, who came on Wednesday to inspect the place. « There are no more customers, we have closed the shop, » one of them, Mohamed Fédi, lamented to AFP, assuring that the kiosks support « 200 poor families ».
Mr. Saied mentioned Sidi Bou Saïd’s « unique stamp in the world » and blamed the « corruption » after the construction, over the past decades, of houses on his heights. With its picturesque architecture, the village that developed in the 18th century around the mausoleum and the zaouia (Muslim religious center) of a Sufi saint, has a spiritual and historical dimension.
It houses a cemetery, a lighthouse, several palaces such as the splendid one of Baron d’Erlanger, which became a national museum of music, and the villa of the late stylist Azzedine Alaïa.
Climate change
According to Chokri Yaïch, a doctor of applied geology, climate change makes the protection of the hill all the more urgent. Storms, like the one that hit the country last week, are now coming « at once » and « with force, » he said on Mosaïque FM radio.
Not to mention that the clay soil loses 70% of its cohesion when it is saturated with water, becoming unstable, according to the expert, who also evokes marine erosion and the weight of urbanization, increasing by 40% in the last thirty years in Sidi Bou Saïd. In addition to limiting or even prohibiting new construction, commonly accepted solutions could involve the construction of retaining walls to prevent landslides, and better drainage of rainwater.
For the time being, the authorities have not announced a global plan to preserve the site
source : lefigaro
