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A two-story building collapsed Thursday night in the city of Artemisa, with no fatalities reported, although there were significant material damages, according to local sources.
The collapse occurred around 8:00 p.m. on September 5th in a building located on Calle 56, between 29 and 31, in the municipal seat of the province of Artemisa. According to witnesses, the structure of the second floor collapsed onto the garage, which served as the ground floor.
“The two-level habitable house completely collapsed, leaving only the second level visible, without causing any harm to its owners,” stated Artemiseño Yansel López Muñoz, deputy chief of the Operations Group of the Red Cross in the province.
López Muñoz explained that firefighters, the Integrated Medical Emergency System (SIUM), Red Cross personnel, and representatives from the Municipal Administration Council promptly arrived at the scene.
While no injuries were reported, witnesses stated that a regular resident of the building was nearby at the time of the collapse. So far, his presence inside the house during the incident has not been officially confirmed.
Inside the garage, which served as the ground floor, there was a car that was found completely trapped under the debris.
The authorities advised the affected residents on the protocol to follow due to the structural risk in the area, and a technical assessment by the municipal Architecture Guard is forthcoming.
The incident highlights the critical state of the housing stock in Cuba, particularly in urban areas where many homes are built without the necessary technical assessments to ensure their safety.
A province marked by recent construction collapses
The collapse of the two-story house in Artemisa is not an isolated incident but rather part of an alarming trend that highlights the increasing deterioration of the housing stock in that western Cuban province.
In November 2024, during the passage of Hurricane Rafael, an industrial air conditioning unit from the Juárez cinema was ripped away by strong winds and fell onto a nearby house, completely destroying its roof.
The property owner publicly reported the lack of an immediate response from the authorities and the delay in sending a tow truck to remove the debris. Fortunately, no injuries were reported in that incident either.
The cyclone Rafael, which struck Artemisa as a category 3 storm with winds of up to 185 km/h, left a devastating trail: roofs torn off, homes completely destroyed, lost crops, and thousands evacuated in municipalities such as Alquízar and Güira de Melena.
Several families have been left literally homeless and only survived thanks to last-minute evacuations. The provincial hospital suffered damage and a lighting tower at the baseball stadium collapsed.
Beyond the weather phenomena, collapses due to lack of maintenance are also common in Artemisa. In September 2022, the stairs of a multifamily building in Mariel collapsed after multiple complaints were ignored by the authorities.
Months earlier, a severe local storm in Candelaria caused the collapse of 20 homes, resulting in partial and total collapses, impacting more than 50 people.
These events, along with the recent collapse in the capital city, reflect a prolonged structural crisis, exacerbated by institutional neglect and the lack of resources to maintain, repair, or reinforce at-risk buildings.
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