Whole Ukraine knows already about the collapse of a part of an apartment building in Lutsk, where people were asleep at the time of the accident. Bearing structures between two parts of the building collapsed from the fifth down to the first floor. This is the official report. In reality, residents of eight apartments were left standing out there practically in what they wore at the time of the accident, two men died, and one woman in serious condition was taken to the hospital. Residents from the other parts of this building now don’t have gas, water, and electricity. After the tragedy they all were ordered to leave their homes and go outside. My friend, post graduate student at Lutsk National Technical University Viktoria Levchuk told that she lives in the apartment building near the one that collapsed. That night she couldn’t sleep for some reason and clearly heard how something cracked loudly, but then she couldn’t understand what it was. In the morning when she woke up she found out about the tragedy from her neighbors.
The victims of the accident were placed in a hotel where psychologists worked with them. There also was equipped a field kitchen, people got food and medical help. Residents of the destroyed apartments will receive 10,000 hryvnias each from the local authorities, 5,000 from the regional organization of the Party of Regions and the Fund of Borys Klimchuk “Ridna Volyn.” Charity foundation “Novy Lutsk” also provided financial aid. It was reported, that this is only the first tranche of aid. The most important things is that the issue of shelter was quickly resolved. Four apartments for the victims will be provided by the regional authorities and another four – by city authorities. Units of the Ministry of Emergency have reacted effectively; they rescued people from under the debris and cleared the scene of the accident. Lutsk and Volyn are frankly shocked by the tragedy on the Rivnenska Street in the regional center. However, the grief does not make the people turn blind eye to the likely causes of the collapse. Already on Sunday, June 10, the Lutsk Prosecutors Office filed criminal charges of dereliction of duty, which led to serious consequences (part 2 of Art. 367 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). According to the residents of the destroyed building on Rivnenska Street, in May there was a partial destruction of the bearing wall noticed on the level of the first floor. However, officials of Lutsk Housing Office No.7 and Lutsk City Council, as mentioned on the website of the regional Prosecutor’s Office, “improperly performing their duties, did not take measures to inspect the apartment building, to establish the reasons of destruction, and to repair it.” Residents of the building say that one of the stores that allegedly made some major renovations in its office destroyed the bearing wall. However, there are also versions that remodeling was done in some of the apartments in violation of safety considerations.
People in Lutsk say that, unfortunately, there are many buildings in town where remodeling was done by owners of shops, firms, and residents. Were the building norms followed in every case? There is a great question about that and there are many examples to illustrate this. Viktoria Levchuk says: “It is scary when situation unfolds like in a horror film with special effects but instead of taking place on screen it happens in lives of real people.” And as always the case in such dramatic situations people start talking about God’s will. One of the men who was affected by the accident watched soccer on the TV and at dawn went to the bathroom. When he came back there was nothing to return to – the living room where he was just moment ago flew down. A lady who lived in this building was awakened by a cat who acted “strange.” The lady followed the cat out of the room and when she wanted to go back there was a huge gap at her feet. Another woman woke up from the sound of cracking in the room and because of that was able to escape to another room with her child.
However, beside the direct victims of the accident, who were left in the clothes they wore when it all happened, there are also the residents from the other parts of the building that were not damaged. There could have been more victims, in fact, but many of the residents of that building went outside the city to visit their relatives. On Monday, June 11, residents of the rest of the apartment building were ready to revolt and block the traffic on Rivnenska Street because nobody has guaranteed them safe living conditions. There are many cracks in the walls of their apartments now, people are afraid to go in their own homes. They demanded from the local authorities to either provide them with new housing, admitting that the building is in emergency condition, or, if the authorities argue that it is not, to give the residents the appropriate document that says so. But for now there were hotel rooms suggested for the residents of the damaged building until the relevant commission will determine the condition of their accommodation.
