Grenfell Tower hell undiminished by time
Despite living in one of the UK’s richest boroughs, survivors of the tragedy still depend on charities for hot meals, clothing needs and counselling, while a lack of information and revelations about cost cuts are fuelling distrust, Seth Jacobson reports
In the early hours of June 14, the world was shown a vision of hell – a 24-storey block of flats in the middle of London, engulfed in flames and burning like a giant torch.
It was the middle of the night. The building was full of people sleeping peacefully, only to wake to horror – or not at all.
Even as firefighters struggled to reach those trapped inside, it was evident that for many it was already hopeless. Grenfell Tower was simply too high and the fire had spread too rapidly to save everyone. When eventually the flames were put out, 80 people were confirmed dead. But the real death toll remains incomplete and may never be known.
For those who escaped, the elation of survival was mixed with grief for those who did not – members of their family, close friends and neighbours. Then came anger and the anxiety of uncertainty. Where will they live? How can they rebuild a life when they have lost everything? A month on, they are as bewildered as ever.
Kensington and Chelsea, the district where the ruins of Grenfell Tower stand, is one of the richest areas in Britain. Yet cheap cladding appears to be the reason why the fire consumed Grenfell so quickly.
It was Muslims who first raised the alarm, awake because it was Ramadan. And in the aftermath, it is Muslims who have played a big part in helping those left not only homeless, but hopeless.
From the television, you think you would know what Grenfell Tower will look like before you see it, but nothing prepares you for the grim malevolence of the charred shell at first sight.
It dominates this part of west London. Pedestrians are stopped in their tracks, standing still, staring. Its blown-out windows and blackened facade are a mocking rebuke to the prosperous nation at large a month after a fire consumed the building.
It stands off Latimer Road, a street where millionaires live cheek-by-jowl with some of the city’s poorest.
Posters clutter every flat surface, from shop windows to telephone boxes, lamp posts and the thick concrete pillars of the Westway flyover, telling of the desperation the neighbourhood has endured in the month since the fire.
Dennis Kelly is a beloved “missing” uncle in one poster and resting in peace in another stuck near by. A mother and child “DIED” in one version of their ragged memorial note, but they were “MURDERED” in a later version.
Landmarks are covered in flowers, including St Clement’s church, where prime minister Theresa May was jeered on her first and only visit three days after the fire. The crowd yelled “coward” and “shame on you” at her as she fled through a phalanx of police officers.
Finally, there is a Truth Wall covered in colourful graffiti that invites residents to ask and answer questions about Grenfell, its inhabitants and the tragedy that befell them.
The community mood is a mixture of resignation and distrust. Grenfell residents have fallen back on the neighbourhood organisations that they know to sustain them.
Beverley Cohen, a volunteer with Muslim Aid, said this was a reflection of the chaos she and her colleagues found when they first arrived on the scene. At the time, the building was still burning.
“Muslim Aid is an international agency, working in 70 countries. Our current emergency appeals include the East Africa Food Crisis, Syria, Yemen and Gaza,” she said. “Poor infrastructure in developing countries is often a factor in the initial confusion, and it is difficult to give survivors clear information at the beginning. We were flabbergasted to find similar conditions at Grenfell.”
Muslim Aid is now part of the Grenfell Muslim Response Unit (GMRU) – along with Human Appeal, National Zakat Foundation and Islamic Relief – that works to support the displaced. Between 60 and 80 per cent of the fire’s casualties and survivors were Muslim, but the unit has provided for all.
Staff member Lotifa Begum has been at the scene since Day 1. “What happened continues to traumatise the families I have met,” she said. “It is hard enough for me to try to restore some sort of normality to my life, but I know that for the families I have met, who have lost their loved ones or been injured or traumatised by the fire, their life will never be normal again.”
Since the fire that started in the early hours of June 14, and claimed at least 80 lives, the 24-storey tower block has served as a very visible rejoinder to those who claim that the nation must adhere to austerity economics; Labour Party and parliamentary opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn’s surprisingly strong performance at the general election five days before the inferno gave an idea of the lack of appetite for more belt-tightening.
Like her colleagues, Ms Begum could not believe how slow the local authority, Kensington and Chelsea council, was to respond to the suffering.
The council administers one of the richest districts in Britain, yet most families are still living in short-term accommodation and relying on groups such as GMRU or the Red Cross for hot meals, clothing needs and trauma care.
“I have listened to heartbreaking stories these past days, including from a family who lost five of their loved ones,” Ms Begum said. “I heard one woman say: ‘My children still have nightmares and we are too scared to go back anywhere near that tower.’ As a British aid worker, I have been in the field in Bosnia, Bangladesh and other places, but I never thought I would be responding to a disaster of this scale and nature in London, in one of the most affluent boroughs in the UK.”
The tireless efforts of the fire crews, ambulance teams and other first responders were one of the few bright spots during the events of a month ago. But even that point of pride has become an object of rancour. Revelations this week that firefighters at Grenfell were hampered by a lack of proper equipment and problems with their radios has shone another unwelcome spotlight on cutbacks in funding for emergency services.
In the seven years of Conser-
Contractors who were being pressured to save £300,000 during a renovation project in 2014, opted to cover the tower with flammable cladding
vative party rule, in coalition with the Liberal Democrats and alone, it has enforced spending discipline on councils. Kensington and Chelsea sent tax rebates to residents after trimming its budget.
The central government has cut funding to some London councils by more than 50 per cent since 2010. Many of these councils have been able to keep their core services open only by scrimping on such things as housing repairs.
It is suspected that the cause of the fire at Grenfell lies in the use of sub-standard exterior cladding. This flammable material allowed the flames to take hold and spread rapidly. It turns out the material was chosen by contractors who were being pressured to save £300,000( Dh1.42million) during a renovation project in 2014.
As inspections of other blocks across the country soon proved, this was a widespread way to cut costs. “A disaster waiting to happen,” said fire expert Sam Webb, who believes hundreds of tower blocks in the UK are affected.
“We are still wrapping postwar high-rise buildings in highly flammable materials and leaving them without sprinkler systems, then being surprised when they burn down.”
Opinion polls suggest Britons will put their money where their mouths are and pay higher taxes in return for better services. The passions unleashed by the deaths in Grenfell Tower are only fuelling public distrust of the establishment.
Readjustment to a new normal is only just getting under way at Grenfell. Only 14 of the 158 families moved out of the building had accepted rehousing offers by last week.
Even with the support of charities, there are other grim challenges to be met.
“In coming days, people will be burying loved ones and I just pray for their strength to get through this tragic and difficult time,” Ms Begum said. “This has got to be the greatest national disaster I have known. I have seen the grief and pain of losing a loved one but never on this scale. There has to be justice for the victims of Grenfell.”