Householders panic after wall collapses
PANICKED householders rushed from their beds at 5am on Tuesday fearing there had been an earthquake — to find the retaining wall next to their apartment block had collapsed because of subsidence.
The wall beside Girne’s Selin 1 Apartments was said to have been weakened by extensive excavation of foundations for a new block on the plot next door.
It finally gave way with a massive crash after recent rainfall further softened the remaining earth underneath it.
Bayram Erköse, director of Aksim Construction which is carrying out the new building work, said developers were insured against all such eventualities, and that they would rebuild the collapsed wall.
Mr Erkoşe, who said he had put up “all the buildings in that road” near Girne police headquarters, said he was “comforted” by the fact that no-one had been hurt.
The collapse came after Girne Municipality this month expressed concern about pavement subsidence as a result of erosion to preparatory excavations for a Girne hotel construction left in limbo due to bureaucratic delays over planning permissions.
Municipal officials said they were keeping a close eye out for any further land slippage in Karakız Sokak, behind the town’s Akçiçek Hospital, where an “urban concept hotel” project was launched in early 2016, with completion due within 18 months.