A building collapsed on the morning of this Friday, the 7th, in the Janga neighborhood, in Paulista, in the metropolitan area of Recife, in Pernambuco. The searches were ended by the Civil Defense last Saturday night, the 9th, after 35 hours of operation. The total balance of fatal victims reached 14 deaths, eight male and six female; another seven people who lived in the building were found alive; two dogs and two cats were also rescued from the building.
The fatal victims of the collapse are two men, aged 45 and 40; three women, aged 43, 40 and 37; four young people aged 21, 19, 18 and 16 years old. A 12-year-old teenager and four children aged 5, 6, 8 and 9 also couldn’t resist.
Three people were removed from the site alive and four other residents were found outside the building. According to the Civil Defense of Pernambuco, the agents also removed two dogs and two cats trapped in another part of the building, which did not collapse.
According to the Civil Defense of Pernambuco, the first distress call was made at 6:35 am, shortly after the collapse of the building, which is located on Rua Dr. Luiz Inacio de Andrade Lima. Colonel Robson Roberto, from the Fire Department, said that around 90 people worked in the rescue operation, 50 of which were firefighters and 40 volunteers from the Civil Defense and surrounding residents.
Four people who lived in the building were found alive outside the premises. Also according to the Fire Department, the building – which had already been condemned by the Civil Defense of the Municipality – was composed of two blocks. One collapsed completely and the other partially.
The building had been banned for the first time in 2010 for presenting structural problems. In 2012, however, most of the apartments were once again occupied. In 2018, there was a new ban, but once again the units were occupied by those who did not have a home.
Three years ago, app driver Gustavo Bezerra moved in with his wife and two small children. He managed to get the entire family out of the apartment thanks to the agility of him and his wife, Daniele. When the stairs collapsed, the couple placed the children in their arms and fled through a hole that opened between the floors.
“We lived on the 3rd floor and we heard a loud bang. We woke up in fright. At the same time, we took the children and opened the door. It was scary. Everything was falling apart,” she says. “My husband looked at me and said, ‘We’re going to make it!’ And we jumped with the boys in our arms into the hole that appeared when the top of the stairs sank. When we got to the bottom, some people who were already outside helped us out. Only God knows how we managed it”, she said, mother of Laura (2 years old), Miguel (6) and Giovana (10), who had light scratches.
Waiter Eduardo Garcia, 22 years old, was arriving home when the collapse had just occurred. “I was living with a friend two months ago. I arrived from the countryside and had nowhere to stay, so she offered me to share the apartment,” he says.
“I only understood what had happened when I saw the rubble, the cloud of dust. There is nothing left. The only thing that relieves me is that she made it out and is fine. She got some wounds on her arms and legs, but we’ll talk about that. It is very sad to see families crying because they have lost not only their homes, but people they love, ”she lamented.
The governor of Pernambuco, Raquel Lyra (PSDB), said that the State will provide all necessary support.
Federal deputy for Pernambuco and former president of the Human Rights Commission of the Chamber Carlos Veras (PT) said that “it is necessary to take seriously the housing deficit, the absence of social assistance and the lack of inspection in risk areas” .
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