CARACAS, July 20 (Xinhua) — Dozens of construction workers labor on the “Los Ojos de Chávez” building, located on the central Bolívar Avenue in Caracas, one of the housing complexes of the Gran Misión Vivienda Venezuela that the government is rehabilitating after the double earthquake recorded on June 24.
Workers rebuild walls and facades while residents of the building remain in a temporary camp set up in the courtyards of the Nuevo Circo, located just opposite the affected property. Joan Rojas, one of the neighbors of the building, thanked the work of the engineers in a dialogue with Xinhua.
“So far the guys have done a great job, there is quite extensive experience in the area. Those who have come here, all are professionals, from the assistant to the engineer, they all have extensive experience and know what they are talking about,” Rojas said.
The residential complex Los Ojos de Chávez consists of 170 apartments distributed over eight floors, plus social areas and a preschool on the lower floors. Domiciano Graterol, Vice Minister for Norms and Management Policies of the Ministry of Public Works, toured the facilities together with Xinhua.
“Our engineers, with the Presidential Commission for Habitability, came and inspected this building, which gave us in the traffic light the yellow category. What does this mean? That it is a building with restricted access, that it is a building that has to have masonry work done so that it can later become habitable again,” Graterol explained.
Héctor González, a resident of Public Works and in charge of repairs, indicated that all structural elements of the complex are “in perfect condition.”
“The idea is that the people who are now in shelters, in the homes of relatives, friends, among others, can return to their homes as soon as possible. That is why we are working 24 hours a day here with 150 workers, technical and professional personnel, and work coordinators,” González stressed.
Plan Venezuela Renace, Jacqueline Faría. Faría explained to the state television that, in the state of La Guaira, the hardest hit, 49.3 percent of the inspected properties received a green label, corresponding to habitable structures; 23.5 percent were yellow due to superficial damage, and 27.2 percent were classified as red due to structural danger.
“We are already attending 228 buildings, that corresponds to seven states, 16 municipalities and 40 parishes in 124 work fronts. From the mission, we will prioritize attention to homes evaluated with green and yellow criteria so that affected people can return to their homes as soon as possible,” Faría said.
“Homes classified as red by the Presidential Commission for the Evaluation of Habitability of Homes and Infrastructure will not be discarded. However, we will prioritize green and yellow ones, because they are the majority, and with this we will achieve that people return to their repaired and safe home,” she added.
The technical session is part of the reconstruction actions implemented after the contingency generated by the seismic doublet of last June 24, articulated through the Plan Venezuela Renace and the General Staff for Temporary Camps and Housing. The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, leads this Tuesday the inspection of lands in the state of La Guaira to certify their suitability for the development of new urban projects, accompanied by the president of the Presidential Commission for the Evaluation of Habitability of Housing and Infrastructure, Francisco Garcés, and the Minister of Popular Power for Habitat and Housing, Paola Posani.
The activity includes the geological verification of more than 40 plots covering 584 thousand square meters, space destined for the construction of more than 25 thousand housing solutions designed under anti-seismic standards. The evaluation in flat areas and plateaus of the coastal entity seeks to determine the load capacity of the soil for the application of flexible structures of reinforced concrete, steel and energy dissipation systems, within a comprehensive urban planning scheme that will include school, sports, commercial and recreational infrastructure.
