Residents of Calle 69, Calle 88 and Itzaes Avenue of the Colonia Centro de Mérida live in fear, as they face the possibility of their houses and businesses collapsing under their feet, as it already happened with the facade of one of the businesses located on the area.
“Possibly because of the rains that have fallen and softened the earth, and because there is a “hollow space” under the building, part of a house that was turned into a business collapsed on Monday November 5th, “explained local resident Roger Briceño.
“These houses were built on top of caves,” added the interviewee, mentioning that 50 years ago, when he was a child, he used to play inside those caves with other children, of course there were no houses in that place back then, only forest and caves, then with the urbanization of the city, houses were built on top of the caves which apparently were not properly filled, he explained.
At the intersection of Calle 69 and Calle 88, at least a dozen houses and businesses are in serious risk of succumbing, because they have no solid ground underneath them, and the vibration that produces the constant transit of vehicles on the streets 69 and 88, as well as on Itzaes Avenue has soften the soil upon the houses are built, and this situation is no longer safe for the residents.
Roger Briceño said that two days ago when the aforementioned property collapsed, some authorities came to the place, but only to see what had happened, absolutely no preventive actions have been taken for the inhabitants of the houses built on top of the caves.
Another local said that the backyards of some of these houses are literally caves, that is to say that gradually the land has been sliding until the cavities are totally visible, and people have been filling up these caves with waste construction materials, stones and even garbage.
It should be noted that a retro excavator of the municipality was seen in the site of the collapse. The machinery filled the hole with dirt and stones, but the residents considered that this is just a temporary measure, because the problem goes far beyond one single house, and the risk of more land sinkings is real in this area of the city.
TYT Newsroom with information from laverdadnoticias.com