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A partial collapse that occurred this Monday in a building located on Industria Street, between San Rafael and San Miguel, in the Centro Habana municipality, left three people injured, including two minors and one adult.
According to information confirmed by local authorities, the two minors affected were urgently transferred to the Juan Manuel Márquez Pediatric Hospital, while the adult is receiving medical care at the Calixto García Hospital. So far, no fatalities have been reported.
Images shared on Facebook by the Municipal Administration Popular Council (CAM) of Centro Habana showed the interior of the house with completely collapsed walls, debris on beds and tables, deep cracks, and support structures on the verge of giving way.
Improvised metal supports were also observed being used on the building's staircase to prevent further detachments.
The Municipal Assembly of People's Power in Centro Habana, along with emergency teams and government officials, is on-site assessing damages and taking measures to preserve human lives and material assets.
It has not yet been reported whether the resident families will be evacuated or if the property will be declared uninhabitable.
This incident once again highlights the critical situation of housing in Havana, where thousands of homes are in a state of structural disrepair, having received inadequate maintenance for decades.
Local residents expressed their concern over the constant risk of new landslides and the lack of safe housing solutions.
The alarming increase in collapses in Centro Habana
The collapse that occurred this Monday on Industria Street adds to a series of structural collapses that have severely affected the municipality of Centro Habana in recent months, one of the most densely populated areas and with the greatest deterioration of housing in the Cuban capital.
At the beginning of September, in Belascoaín #105, a progressive collapse occurred, leaving dozens of families in suspense. The complaints about the absence of officials at the site after the incident sparked outrage on social media.
Days later, another partial collapse in San Lázaro, between Oquendo and Márquez González, affected 14 people amidst a critical situation of blackouts caused by the collapse of the national electro-energy system (SEN).
The collapse occurred in a circulation corridor on the first floor of a building declared irreparable by the authorities. Fortunately, no fatalities were reported, but the incident once again highlighted the lack of governmental response and prevention.
In mid-August, the collapse of a building at the central corner of San Rafael and Galiano (very close to the collapse this Tuesday) claimed the life of a worker from Café Boulevard.
In that case, the collapse dragged the ceilings of the building from the upper floor to the ground floor, trapping several people under the rubble. Neighbors reported that the building had been declared uninhabitable for years, but no preventive measures were taken beyond cosmetic repairs to the facade.
These incidents are not isolated events. A pattern is emerging of centennial houses, damaged by leaks, humidity, rain, and overpopulation, abandoned by the State.
While public investments are focused on hotels, thousands of families are surviving among ruins, at risk of losing everything—or even their lives—at any moment.
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