HAVANA, December 7 (Ramón Díaz-Marzo, www.cubanet.org) -
Thursday, December 6 at 10:30 a.m., the streets around the five-story building
that had collapsed nine hours before were still blocked by police.
At the scene, firemen, K-9 units, medical and Red Cross personnel worked
through the rubble. About 100 men with portable saws scratched the masonry
looking for two women still missing: one of about 30 and the other much older.
Two gigantic mechanical shovels carefully removed building chunks and
deposited them on dump trucks for removal.
The building did not entirely collapse; its rear was intact, looming over
the area where firemen had rescued 15 people the previous night, according to
someone from the Red Cross.
Nothing is left of the small coffee shop that used to operate on the ground
floor, next to the long staircase. One of two women standing in front of a
nearby house reminded me of its name, the Monterrus.
She turned out to be the president of the neighborhood’s Committee for
the Defense of the Revolution; her home was in the collapsed building.
"The collapse was not a surprise to anyone," she said. "My
son had wanted to spend the night, but I warned him of the danger. After
hurricane Michelle, I evacuated myself to my daughter’s workplace. Before
the hurricane, the authorities evacuated all residents to various shelters, but
about 20 chose to remain, knowing that collapse was imminent.
"There was one poor devil who had no place to live and he used to sleep
behind the staircase, where he also kept his pushcart. They found him under the
rubble. So far there are only four known dead and some injured, but old lady
Elsa and a girl of about 30 are still buried.
"Before Michelle, there were two partial collapses. But I remember that
as far back as 1985 a family on the first floor was resettled to a shelter.
Recently, an engineer from the municipal government was here and told people
the building was about to collapse. I don’t understand how people take such
risks.
"We have been resettled to shelters, where we are all lumped together.
So far, they haven’t said anything about housing."
Versión
original en español
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