Gaza to evacuate and demolish 255 unsafe buildings — Anadolu Agency
In the Gaza Strip, the government media office on September 21 announced the launch of an emergency plan to evacuate and demolish 255 buildings damaged during the war and at risk of collapse. The plan will be implemented by the Ministry of Public Works and Housing together with other government bodies, international organizations and UN agencies, Anadolu Agency reports.
Evacuation of residents
According to the media office, the plan is intended to eliminate the immediate danger posed by structures at risk of total collapse and protect displaced people and residents who remain in such buildings. The relevant authorities were instructed to immediately begin work on the ground: install warning signs near dangerous sites and provide affected families with temporary shelter.
Specialized government committees continue to assess the condition of damaged structures and identify families still living in them. The decision was made after several partial and complete collapses of buildings damaged during the war. In particular, the Al-Saada building collapsed in Gaza City on Wednesday, killing 21 Palestinians.
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Thousands of dangerous buildings
The Ministry of Public Works and Housing previously reported that around 3,000 buildings in the Gaza Strip had been classified as dangerous or at risk of collapse. Due to the large-scale destruction of housing, thousands of Palestinians are forced to remain in damaged and unstable structures because of an acute shortage of adequate shelter.
Among the obstacles to implementing the plan, the media office cited a lack of funding, heavy machinery and equipment for safe evacuation, as well as a shortage of land plots to accommodate displaced families. According to Gaza's Health Ministry, 61 people have died as a result of collapses of war-damaged buildings. Palestinian authorities, international organizations and UN agencies called for allowing materials for shelter arrangements and temporary prefabricated housing into the Strip.
