A section of the roof on the fourth floor of a building located at Águila 368, corner of San Miguel, in Centro Habana, collapsed on Wednesday morning, around 6:10 AM, according to reports from the independent newspaper 14ymedio.
The collapse did not cause any casualties, but it raised alarms among the neighbors of the building, where more than 300 people reside.
The collapse created a hole in the ceiling of the top floor, allowing a direct view of the sky from the inside.
Pieces of concrete, dust, and debris were left piled on the ground and next to the metal railing of the stairs, while the bare, rusty rebar of the structure lay exposed beside extensive marks of moisture.
Juan Goberna, director of the Cuban Network for People with Disabilities and resident of the second floor, was a direct witness to the collapse.
"I was already awake when I heard the roar and the whole building shook," he recounted to the independent outlet. "A neighbor started screaming, and people jumped out of bed to see what was happening, but it was only when dawn broke that the gravity of the situation became clear. To make matters worse, it has been raining since early this morning, so water has been coming in through the gap."
The rains worsened the situation by entering through the open gap. Goberna warned that “there are neighbors who are currently in the street and do not want to enter the building for fear that more chunks will keep falling,” and specified that the most affected are those on the fourth floor, although the collapse also damaged part of the ceiling on the third floor due to the weight of the fallen debris.
The activist clarified that this is the first partial collapse of the building, although there had already been minor detachments from the ceiling of the top floor.
A previous attempt to reinforce the structure with wood was unable to materialize due to a lack of fuel to hire the truck that would transport the beams, yet another example of how the widespread scarcity obstructs even the most basic solutions.
"Fortunately, there were no human losses or injuries," Goberna told 14ymedio, although he warned that the deterioration of the building and the lack of repairs keep residents under the constant threat of a total collapse.
The property, built in 1936 as a hotel and later converted into collective housing decades later, is part of the Colón Popular Council, one of the most densely populated areas of Central Havana.
Its Art Deco façade features window openings without frames, exposed gaps, and areas darkened by moisture.
The collapse this Wednesday occurs ten days after a tragedy in the Diez de Octubre municipality: two elderly individuals died when the entrance to their home collapsed in Lawton, at the corner of 8th and San Francisco.
September was an especially critical month for the capital. The heavy rains—recording over 300 mm in 24 hours in some areas—left at least 26 houses completely collapsed and 122 with partial collapses, with 148 people housed in state centers and 762 self-evacuating to stay with family.
The structural deterioration of Havana has deep roots: according to official data, around 1,000 buildings collapse annually in the capital, and by the end of 2025, there were 185,348 properties in poor condition.
The national housing deficit exceeds 929,000 homes, and the state's construction plan has only achieved 22% of its goal for 2025, with just 2,382 units completed out of the 10,795 planned.
Many families remain in buildings declared uninhabitable because they have nowhere to go, and state shelters do not provide a real solution.
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