[WATCH] Collapsing apartments: People are worried and scared

Are people worried or angered about collapsing apartment blocks?

With the caved-in block of apartments on Main Street in Mellieha as a backdrop, we asked people on the street whether they were worried that their homes might suffer a similar fate.

The majority of respondents said they were genuinely worried. Two blocks of apartments next to construction sites — one in Guardamangia and another in Mellieha — crumbling while residents were inside, respondents said that the same thing happening to them wasn’t such a remote possibility. 

“Of course you’re scared. They’re building a penthouse where I live,” one respondent said. Another chimed in saying that nowadays, with such a rush to complete construction works across the island, one can never know if proper regulations are being adhered to.

But others shrugged it off and said that "accidents happen".

We also went to Valletta to gauge the general sentiment surrounding the incidents. All the people said the situation was worrying. Some said that they lived beside a construction site and leaving their kids inside the house was a cause of anxiety.

“On the one hand you would want construction works to take place, but this should at least be done with proper surveillance,” one respondent said. “There are multiple cranes surrounding the area where I live. It’s worrying leaving the children at home. You never know what might happen today.”

Some respondents said that two building cave-ins in the space of two months were too many and were reflective of bad practice in the construction industry.

“Something isn’t right. Something isn’t working,” one respondent said. 

Nobody was killed in the two incidents in Guardamangia and Mellieha but people were left homeless and with no possessions.

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