A residential building collapsed on Saturday night in the Diez de Octubre municipality of the capital, while the city remained in darkness due to the widespread blackout that affected all of Cuba, leaving millions of people without electricity even on this Sunday.
The events took place at the intersection of Calzada de 10 de Octubre and Santa Irene, according to a report on social media by Cuban activist Anamely Ramos González, who shared images and videos of the incident.
"There are few more macabre scenarios than this: being completely in the dark for over a day and suddenly having your house start to collapse on you. And not even seeing where the stones are coming from. People nearby heard the cries for help even amidst the darkness," the activist from the Movimiento San Isidro (MSI) noted on Facebook.
According to eyewitnesses, the collapse trapped several people, whose cries for help could be heard in the complete darkness.
"They say that even to rescue the trapped people, they didn't turn on the electricity. But there were many State Security agents present. Let's hope there are no fatalities. This is how we Cubans live, entrusting ourselves to supernatural forces. Praying to stay alive. 'How long will this last!?'” added Ramos González in his post.
The incident occurred amid one of the worst energy crises the island has faced in years. Since Friday, March 14, a nationwide blackout has left millions of Cubans without electricity. In Havana, less than two percent of the customers had electricity this Saturday night.
The interruption of service was due to a malfunction at the Diezmero substation in Havana, which caused the collapse of the National Electric System. This marks the fourth massive blackout in less than six months, highlighting the serious fragility of the country's electrical infrastructure.
After the outage, the Electric Union of Cuba (UNE) began efforts to restore service, prioritizing hospitals and food production centers. However, at the time of this publication, a significant portion of the country remains without electricity, and the authorities have not provided a clear restoration timeline.
The lack of electricity continues to impact water supply, food refrigeration, and connectivity on the island, while desperation and uncertainty among the population grow.
The collapse of buildings in Havana is a recurring problem, exacerbated by a lack of maintenance and the aging of the infrastructure.
It is estimated that the city experiences at least 1,000 partial or total collapses each year. Some of the most recent incidents have occurred in Centro Habana, one of the municipalities most affected by housing precariousness.
This is not the first time a collapse has occurred in Havana during a blackout, plunging those affected into a double tragedy: the collapse of their homes and the despair of being trapped in the darkness.
In November 2024, during the passage of Hurricane Rafael, more than 460 collapses, both partial and total, were recorded in the Cuban capital while the city experienced a total blackout.
Many of these structures, already weakened by decades of neglect, could not withstand the heavy rains and strong winds, leaving dozens of families homeless. The lack of electricity not only hampered rescue efforts but also heightened the panic among residents, who could neither see nor hear clearly those calling for help beneath the rubble.
In June 2024, another series of blackouts coincided with heavy rains that impacted the city's infrastructure, causing at least 19 collapses in various areas of Havana.
In some cases, the collapses occurred in the early hours, surprising residents while they were asleep, with no opportunity to react in time due to the lack of lighting. In several incidents of this nature, there have been reports of fatalities and injuries.
The combination of prolonged power outages and the poor condition of buildings has turned these incidents into a recurring threat for the population, who live in constant fear that their home could collapse at any moment.
While the landslides pose a constant threat to the population, the energy crisis continues to worsen the situation. Although the government has announced plans to modernize the electrical infrastructure with the support of China, the lack of investment and the country’s economic conditions hinder the implementation of effective solutions.
With a collapsed electrical system and ruined urban infrastructure, Cubans face an increasingly critical situation where living in fear of losing everything in a collapse or spending days without electricity has become part of daily life.
As of the time of writing this note, neither the authorities nor the official media have commented on the unfortunate incident.
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