A staircase collapsed on Monday afternoon, leaving a resident trapped in a three-story multi-family building located on Luz street between Curazao and Egido in Old Havana. Firefighters arrived at the scene to help the elderly man who could not leave the interior of the building, in addition to a strong police operation that cordoned off the area.
Moments before the collapse, the man, who lived in the apartment on the third floor, had gone up the stairs, they told 14ymedio several residents of the Havana municipality who also confirmed that no one was injured.
From a car with a crane, the firefighters accessed the balcony of the apartment to help the man, who shares the building with another family that lives one floor below. Then, both the man and the other inhabitants of the building were evacuated.
At the beginning of this June, due to the intense rains that affected the west of the country, more than 60 landslides were reported in Havana, one of them caused the death of two people.
During the Havana afternoons of this month it continues to rain and a few hours after a downpour on Wednesday of last week, a construction collapsed, specifically, the top floor of a three-story building in San Lázaro corner Genios in Centro Habana.
“Luckily he was awake, because if it’s later, he doesn’t count it.” The residents of the place, gathered in front of the ruined building, commented last Thursday on the event in which no one died.
But the precarious housing conditions in this area of the capital have hundreds of inhabitants worried. Two women, who live in a building near San Lázaro and Genios, also very deteriorated, affirmed that they are terrified, that they cannot sleep, that they also have no alternative housing and that, meanwhile, the Government is crossing its arms.
Both Old Havana and Central Havana report constant landslides. In the vicinity of the Malecón, the buildings have especially suffered from the effects of saltpeter, which, together with the lack of maintenance, have turned the housing stock in the area into one of the most damaged in the Cuban capital. In addition, the successive programs launched by the Government have not resolved the increasingly frequent claims.
________________________
Collaborate with our work:
The team of 14ymedio is committed to doing serious journalism that reflects the reality of deep Cuba. Thank you for joining us on this long road. We invite you to continue supporting us, but this time becoming a member of our newspaper. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
