“What will become of this neighborhood? We don’t know”

It was three years ago: the collapse of two buildings, rue d’Aubagne, in Marseille, left eight dead. A trauma for the Phocaean city which discovered that part of its habitat was unsanitary: 1,500 buildings have been placed under peril since this tragedy and 40,000 people have been displaced. A remembrance ceremony was organized Friday, November 5 in front of the gaping hole left by the collapsed buildings.

At precisely 9:05 am, the death knell for a nearby church sounded. Silence fell instantly in this street in the city center for eight minutes, in homage to the eight victims, eight minutes during which the only noise was that of the crackling of torches.

The emotion of the 200 people gathered was palpable: several residents of the neighborhood were crying. But once that streak had passed, it was once again the hour of anger.“I was one of the owner-occupants of 69 rue d’Aubagne which adjoins the collapsed buildings and which was demolished and partially two days later”, confides a resident, his voice choked.

“I’m angry with what happened, the aftermath, and what will become of this neighborhood. Because we don’t know.”

A resident

to franceinfo

The great fear of the inhabitants of this working-class district, located a stone’s throw from the Old Port, is to be pushed back towards the outskirts and the north of the city. “Today, sighs a neighbor, it is downright mission impossible to become an owner in Marseille, except for rich people who come from Paris most of the time …”

An observation shared by Fatih Bouara, the former director of the Abbé Pierre Foundation. “There are still 40,000 potentially unworthy housing units, he emphasizes. Today we have a housing crisis in which the prices of rents and the price of land have increased enormously in recent years. “ Three years after the tragedy, 600 buildings are still in danger in Marseille.