A building located near the emblematic Paseo del Prado, in Havana, suffered a collapse partial shortly before 1:00 PM this Thursday, according to official sources.
The incident occurred in a building located on Calle Refugio, between Prado and Morro, where members of the Corps of Police arrived. Firemen and other forces of Ministry of the Interior (Minint)to evacuate residents in the building and conduct a search for possible victims in the rubble.
According to the local government, eight families resided in the building, of which three were affected.
So far no loss of human life has been reported, but residents of the area confirmed that a few meters from the collapse people always remained or passed through.
The inhabitants who were in the building were relocated to a nearby office of the Directorate of Education, according to press reports.
Publications on networks and unofficial media, which quote neighbors and witnesses, speak of injured people rescued at the scene. For his part, journalist Dairon Caballero, from the official media outlet Radio Habana Cuba, confirmed that at least two people had been evacuated after being trapped as a result of the collapse of the building.
This reporter himself and other sources report that the search efforts continued, using the canine technique.
The damaged building is located in an area of old buildings and others that have been recently repaired and used as tourist facilities, such as the Iberostar Grand Packard hotels and the now Royalton Habana, the latter belonging to the Blue Diamond Resort hotel chain.
The housing situation is one of the main problems in Cuba, particularly in the capital.
The constructive deterioration of many buildings in Old Havana is usually the cause of this type of event. In recent days the collapse of a roof slab in a building in the same municipality left an initial balance of four injured, including a minor who later he passed away in the hospital.
In last decemberthe collapse of the side wall of a building in the Jesús María Popular Council caused the death of one person, while in the middle of the previous year the collapse of a building in terrible construction conditions, also in the historic center of Havana, claimed the life of a 69-year-old lady.
The incident occurred only months after the detachment of a balcony in the Jesús María neighborhood caused the death of three girls who were returning from school, a case that shocked the entire society.
