Fearing Building Collapse, Many In Cuba Sleep Fully Clothed, Some Stay Up
NDTV
Official figures show that about 37 percent of 3.9 million residential buildings in the country were considered to be in an undesirable state by the end of 2020.
"When we go to sleep, it is with the fear of not waking up again," says Elisa Bacyan, resident in one of about 700 apartment buildings deemed unsafe in the Cuban capital, where collapses are frequent.Bacyan, 51, lives alone with her daughter Lesyanis, 12 in an old-town building named "Edificio Cuba" that dates from 1940.
The six-story building belongs to the Cuban State, like most others on the communist island. It sports 114 small rooms that house 92 families rent-free.
It used to be an elegant hotel, say residents.
Today, the floor planks are broken, the ceilings, columns and passageway walls reveal twisted metallic skeletons, and cracks and leaks abound.
