The people of Aninoasa have been living in containers for almost 3 years: “They said a maximum of 3 months”
More than 500 locals from Aninoasa, Hunedoara county, have been living in improvised containers for almost three years, after the earthquakes of 2023 destroyed their houses. The authorities' promises to provide them with new homes turned into a nightmare of waiting, cold and misery.
Locals from Aninoasa, forced to live in containers PHOTO: Adevărul / Daniel Guță
Daniela Varga is 49 years old and lives with her husband and 7-year-old grandson in a container of only 20 square meters. The family was evicted after the 2023 earthquakes, with the promise of a new home within three months.
“They said three months at the most, three months at the most. We're full of… I don't know what's here, rattiness, rubbish, everything you want you can find here. All my things are scattered. When I look for something, I don't know where I put it, in which bag, where it is. You see, all our life's work is gone”the woman tells, for Digi24.
Daniela says that she lives in fear of another rain, because the roof of the container does not hold up. “When it rained, right here like that, it rained here, it rained on the bed,” she says, pointing to the damp ceiling.
Winter without heat and running water
Residents are preparing to face the third winter in the same precarious conditions. The containers they live in are not insulated, and heating is completely absent. Most use the restrooms of a nearby school, and the cold outside easily penetrates inside as well. Low temperatures and lack of comfort make everyday life almost impossible.
Many of them have small children, whom they have to wash with water heated on the stove. “Especially in winter it is very difficult, because two children need warmth. We have to bring water, heat water, so we don't put them in the hospital“, explains another mother from the community.
The mayor promises again: “By next month they will be completed”
The mayor of Aninoasa, Nicolae Dunca, claims that the works on the new blocks are almost completed and that the victims will soon be moved to the apartments. “By next month they will be completed… Three blocks are 99% completed and three are being erected, so that until the frost comes we can cover them. But, I saw, they are warm, the babies come out naked, like this… If I had nothing to do, I would resist, what can I do?! Life tries you in all kinds of ways”declared the mayor.
According to Dunca, the project to build new homes for the victims has a value of 8 million euros, and the necessary funds would already be available. However, people remain skeptical and fear that they will have to endure another winter in the cold, among rats and mold.
Hundreds of people had to leave their homes (built in 1895) damaged by two earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.2 and 5.7, respectively, which occurred on February 13 and 14, 2023, in Gorj County.
