Simon Hunter
A FIVE-STORY residential building containing 21 homes collapsed on Tuesday in the city of Teruel. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the incident.
The caretaker mayor of the city in the Aragon region, Emma Buj, told Spanish news outlets that the alarm had been raised that the building was not in a good condition. The police, fire crews and architects were sent to the site, which was immediately evacuated.
Shortly after, the entire building came crashing down.
“We were there, I was at the location myself,” explained Buj. “We were with the acting urbanism councillor, with all of the municipal services, when the building, which was creaking, collapsed and came down.”
The acting mayor said that for now there was no indication as to the cause of the structural failure, but that residents had reported leaks due to the recent heavy rainfall.
“We calculate that there were 21 homes, and so right now the priority is psychological attention,” she added. “Because we are talking about families who have just lost their houses, in many cases their regular homes, along with their belongings.”
The acting mayor added that the council was organising meals for the victims as well as contacting hotels to arrange for temporary accommodation.
The local newspaper Diario de Teruel published a video on Twitter that it said was provided by a resident of the block, showing leaks in the garage. The neighbour stated that they had been complaining about the damp for 15 years.
Read more:
- Safe as houses: Better be safe than sorry by getting a proper structural survey done
- Squatter nearly drowns in building’s underground water cistern on Spain’s Costa Blanca
