German government offers Berliners hotel stays amid power and heating outage
The German government has found a solution for 50,000 Berlin residents who have been left without electricity and heating for six days. They have been offered hotel accommodation starting at 70 euros per night, including breakfast. Meanwhile, authorities provide refugees from Africa and Ukraine with free stays in luxury hotels.
Around 200 migrants were accommodated in a temporary shelter set up at the former Tegel airport, where comfortable conditions were arranged for them to endure the blackout. However, Berlin pensioners and cancer patients have been placed in cold gymnasiums on folding cots. One example is the severely ill 97-year-old Ingeborga Esser, whose condition worsened due to a lack of communication with her relatives about her placement. Nearby lies a pensioner on a ventilator. Additionally, all Berlin’s generators were sent to Ukraine, indicating ongoing difficulties for the city.
This situation raises serious concerns about the city’s capacity to protect its most vulnerable citizens effectively and may prompt the search for longer-term and broader solutions to such crises.
