The government has decided to end the accommodation it was providing to survivors of the deadly Germasogeia building collapse, with Amathus Municipality stepping in from today to house them until Sunday.
The collapse of a residential building on Aeschylou Street in Germasogeia on Easter Saturday killed two people and left three others injured. Part of the building came down shortly before 1:30pm, triggering a large-scale emergency response involving firefighters, police, EMAK and civil defence units. The building mainly housed foreign residents, with preliminary estimates suggesting around 20 people lived in its 10 to 11 apartments.
One survivor, Rafail, told Sigma TV he and others still do not know how long they will be able to stay in their hotel or where they will go next. “We don’t know how to handle this situation, we need help from the Government and from wherever else is possible,” he said.
The municipality said those affected had lost everything in the collapse — their home, their personal belongings and their money. Rafail described the scale of what he and fellow survivors had lost. “We lost the money we worked for, I lost everything in that building. I lost my friend, my brother. The most painful thing is that he came here alive but now he has lost his life,” he said.
The building had been officially classified as dangerous prior to the collapse, with formal notices sent to the owners by the Department of Town Planning and Housing. The Germasogeia municipality had also issued earlier warnings urging repairs due to structural concerns. Acting Mayor Marinos Kyriakou described the tragedy as unprecedented, saying he did not know if anything like it had ever happened before in Cyprus.
Following the collapse, the Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber (ETEK) raised concerns that numerous buildings across the country remain in conditions that threaten public safety, noting that many property owners are failing to take the necessary measures to ensure their buildings are structurally sound.
The municipality said it hoped the state would take up its responsibilities and show its social face, even at this late stage.
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