Campanario Street, almost at its intersection with Estrella, remains obstructing vehicular traffic from a few days ago due to the accumulation of rubble product of the spontaneous collapse of a building that was over one hundred years old.
It is known that when the sun rises after downpours, the heat ends up cracking the structures and brings disaster. Firstly the sand product of the collapse that is used in a mix with cement, and certainly very popular in new constructions. Secondly, the old, whole bricks are highly valued for building walls. Thirdly, the beams that once endured supporting the structures are preserved given the quality of the wood, and then are used in construction. Some lose and others win; respectively, the poor seniors that live here and from now on until their death in a shelter, and these opportunists (called by Cubans escombreadores) who later sell a sack of sand for 50 pesos.
In the east the earth trembles, in Havana the buildings fall without waiting for a jolt. During the last six months two other buildings have completely collapsed on Campanario Street.
Three years ago, two traders of construction materials were rescued, dead, from a collapse on the corner of Infanta and Salud when, after a partial collapse, came the final one in the early morning. Compared with seismic records, it would seem a replica.
For now there is no traffic for any vehicle on Campanario Street, and theescombreadores persist in their labor, looking for money at any risk and they will pass the favor of eliminating almost all the material spilled here.
The earth is still shaking, and with or without it the collapses will not stop.
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