© Abu El Fadl
The village of Fares, located about 75km north of the city of Aswan near Kom Ombo, is currently being destroyed by severe flooding of contaminated water caused by controversial oil drilling practices performed over the past four years, according to residents.
Fares is an agricultural village home to approximately 25,000 residents.
While they rely on arable land to survive, the continuous destruction of farms, trees, water supplies and even housing has forced many to try move away from the village into the desert, or onto higher terrain in the mountains.
However, government officials have been preventing evacuees from relocating onto what they claim is "private land," leaving many of Fares' residents homeless.
According to Sheikh Ahmed Abdel Hameed, a resident of Fares and key community activist, the initial floodings started in 2009 when oil drillers from DanaGas started test drilling on residential land in Fares without local consent.
"Not long after the drillers left, contaminated water started to pump out of the ground from the holes they had made, destroying everything," says Abdel Hameed, adding that now over 500 feddans of land and housing has been destroyed by constant flooding.
"It's poisonous water, and even small amounts destroy the plantations and trees, instead of hydrating them ... and sometimes it can get up to five feet high, destroying our houses too."
