The residents of the building on Fred Olsen Avenue in Arrecife, who were evicted on Thursday afternoon after a pillar of the building gave way, are still unable to access their homes. According to the chief engineer of the Public Works area of the Cabildo, José Manuel Onieva, the situation of the building is "delicate". Thus, until it is shored up and a technician certifies that it can be accessed, the residents will not be able to return to their homes.
This was decided after technicians from the first institution, together with the architect of the Arrecife City Council and those responsible for the work, visited the building on Friday morning to assess its condition, accompanied, among others, by the manager of the Security and Emergency Consortium, Enrique Espinosa, and the Councilor for Urban Planning of the capital's Consistory, Manuel Hernández Noda.
"There is an obvious danger. Therefore, with good judgment, the Security Consortium ordered the building to be evacuated," said the chief engineer of the Public Works area of the Cabildo after the visit, who, however, could not specify whether this danger could be imminent or not. "That is difficult to assess at a glance," he said.
"Some tests and work need to be done first"
Thus, he pointed out that "the problem needs to be studied a little more by the specialists" and that for the residents to be able to enter their homes, "it is necessary for a technician to sign a certificate stating that the building is in good condition." And for that, he added, "some tests and work need to be done first." "And until the tests are done, it is not known how it will be repaired," said the Cabildo technician, who pointed out that "it may be a matter of days or weeks," but that it is already "the responsibility of the homeowners' association."
This work, according to the manager of the Security and Emergency Consortium, would consist, among other things, of shoring up the building. "And when they fix it and we have a certificate from an architect saying that the building is safe, we will open it," he said.
"It was so fast that there was only time to grab the urgent things and leave"
"We are waiting to see what the solution for the building will be," said Sandra Cabrera, head of Heritage of the Cabildo, who is one of the affected residents of the building and who told La Voz how she experienced the eviction.
"In my case, yesterday afternoon a firefighter knocked on the door and told us that we had to leave urgently. They gave us 10 minutes to leave due to the danger the building was suffering, because we have two columns that seem to be in serious condition. And in principle, according to what the technicians of both the Cabildo and the City Council tell us, if the security of the building is reinforced with pillars, we could move in, but all this is yet to be determined," she said.
Sandra stated that the eviction was "so sudden and so fast" that she only had time "to grab the urgent things and leave." For this reason, she has requested that at least the residents be allowed to enter "to grab something." "Because we have all left with what we were wearing and my mother lives in the other part of the building, she has medication and has left half of the pills behind. And until this afternoon it seems that we will not be able to enter and this afternoon we will see if we can enter to live well or to pick up something at least, we do not know," said Sandra, who after the eviction went "to a friend's house."
It should be remembered that this Thursday, after the events, the mayor of Arrecife went to the area and offered "attention and accommodation" to the residents of the 31 homes in the building. However, according to Eva de Anta, only one of them was going to go to a hotel, because the rest were going to stay "in family homes.
