Havana/In the early hours of this Sunday, a new landslide in Old Havana once again shook the residents of the historic center of the capital. The partial collapse of a house located at 568 Compostela Street, between Sol and Muralla, left two people dead, mother and son, identified as Sara Paula Díaz, 64, and Carlos Fidel Sánchez Díaz, 38. The event tragically coincides with the celebration of the 506th anniversary of a city that, in recent decades, is better known for its collapses than for its columns.
The accident occurred around 2:15 in the morning, when the second floor of the building suddenly gave way. Some local residents reported that the noise woke them up, and that the first people to arrive tried to remove the debris before the firefighters arrived. The rescue and rescue brigades, together with the Police and Health personnel, worked for hours to locate the victims and secure the area.
As reported official journalists like Lázaro Manuel Alonso and Alexander Ríos Cruz, the house had been in critical condition for years. Several families lived in the building, including a woman with four children, an elderly woman alone, and a father with his adult son. Everyone lived aware of the risk, but without a housing alternative or state response.
A Cubanet reporter also confirmed the obvious deterioration of the building. The neighbors agreed that the collapse occurred at the back of the building, where the cracks and leaks had been visible for some time. Images that circulated on social networks showed rescuers, police and onlookers gathered in front of the building, while emergency teams worked among the remains of the collapsed second floor.
The Government itself has admitted that in the capital about 1,000 homes collapse, partially or totally, a year.
This new collapse joins a long list of similar tragedies that frequently hit the Cuban capital. On September 28, also a Sunday, the partial collapse of a building located at number 466 Sol Street, claimed the life of an elderly man. In July, two consecutive landslides killed four people, including two young parents and his little daughter seven years old.
The causes are known: buildings that are more than a century old, overcrowded, exposed for decades to humidity, saltpeter and lack of maintenance. In Old Havana, thousands of properties are in danger of partial or total collapse, according to even official sources. The Government itself has admitted that in the capital, around 1,000 homes collapse, partially or totally, a year, many of them inhabited.
Housing deterioration not only threatens the lives of residents, but also shows profound institutional abandonment. While the authorities promote tourism projects and they build new hotelsthe homes of Havana residents are literally sinking. Urban restoration is advancing in the areas most visible to tourism, but it leaves out the alleys and lots where tens of thousands of people live.
The shortage of construction materials, the bureaucracy to access subsidies and the inefficiency of state companies aggravate the crisis. In the absence of solutions, many families accept to live in conditions that expose them to the collapse of ceilings, walls and beams. The shelters set up by the State usually offer overcrowding, lack of privacy and basic needs, which leads some to return to their ruined homes, despite the danger.
