“What, we're from containers?!” Revolt in Slatina: the victims refuse help from the City Hall and demand money for houses and construction materials

The families in Slatina evacuated from the houses at risk of being covered by the earth due to the landslide on Grădiște Hill refuse the option of living in the containers made available by the Slatina City Hall. They spent the first night after the evacuation with relatives.

The atmosphere on Grădiște Street in Slatina is oppressive. People who were evacuated on the night of March 3/4, 2026 from their houses that became unsafe due to landslides on the hill, although they seemed content a day ago about what was going to happen to them, on Thursday “twisted”. The option of receiving a new plot of land from the town hall, for sure this time, on which to build new houses, no longer seems good to them. People want land, but also construction materials, refusing on the other hand to move into the modular containers that the Slatina City Hall has made available to them.

They spent the first night after the evacuation, moreover, with relatives, not in the containers prepared by the authorities and placed for now in a temporary space, until new plots of land are identified.

“No, I'm not going! I sleep in the street and I don't do that! Where am I going with eight people? There are eight people! Four minors and we are eight. What, are they containers? But that's how the mayor made his commitment, that he gives us one container each, what the hell is that, the respective place he gives us to make a house”, a woman who lived, until Tuesday, in a house marked by the authorities as being at risk for safe living, told journalists on Thursday.

People have announced that they refuse to move into containers PHOTO: Ionelia Nucă

The woman added that, on the other hand, she is afraid to stay in the house she built without a permit, as is the case with the other properties, because the rains will come and the risk of the land taking her downhill again is major.

In the same situation are several citizens among those evacuated. They are afraid to stay in the houses (the authorities don't allow them access anyway except with companions and only to recover their belongings), but they reject the option of moving into the containers located not far from their street, in the vicinity of the Care and Hygiene Center.

Some, taking advantage of the presence of the representatives of the national television stations, even went up and rested on the beds taken out of the buildings and placed on the sidewalk. “If we have nowhere to sleep, we sleep here!”, the victims decreed.

The owners of the affected houses can enter to recover their belongings only accompanied PHOTO: Ionelia Nucă

“There were six people there, I live here (n. ed. – in the most affected house, half destroyed by the landslide). If I got caught by the shore there, wouldn't it kill our children? (…) My daughter-in-law stayed with my mother, the boy slept with his mother-in-law, with two children and his wife, where should we stay? We don't agree to go there, to the bathrooms. Yes, he gives us those containers, but to give us materials, to give us space… (…) I didn't save anything, they also grabbed our bulletins there, mine and the boy's. We do not agree to go to the containers. We agree if he gives us land and materials. That the mayor said that we should make our own money. I told him: Mr. Mayor, we don't even have money to eat! What more can I say, I have no more tears to cry! They must help us, give us housing, we are six people and we cannot stay in such conditions! To give us a place to live, to give us materials, because we don't live there, a whole life in containers!”, said the woman owner of the building at no. 93.

The authorities are monitoring the landslide PHOTO: Ionelia Nucă

People say that the aid of 2,500 lei, which they were told could be offered to them in a first phase, is of no help to them. “What do we do with 2,500 lei? When the mayor put thousands of euros into cat cages?”added a young man in a similar situation.

“They put us in the back so no one could see us”

“I refused to go there. First of all, I didn't build the house from the town hall, I built it from installments, from loans from banks. Think of us too, that we are so many people on the streets! I don't know whether to trust that he will give us a home. The night before yesterday I slept in the minibus, last night at a relative of mine. I asked the deputy mayor: would you, in our place, live in something like this? Come see if you agree where he got us. (…) Or does he want to get rid of us?! Does he want to get rid of us?”the owner of no. 91. “They put us in the back, so that no one could see us. If it was your pleasure to put us in containers, why didn't you put us in the street, on the road? That there are enough places. He put us in the back like dogs, like sheep? I don't agree with that! If you were in my situation and you put him there, would he sleep? Don't sleep! Or he found us stupid gypsies and He gives us a container and kicks us in the ass? If there were some Romanians, he would give them a good accommodation. Let's put them in the back? Let's go and see what's going on!” said the woman.

Grădiște Hill would not have subjected people to such tests in the last decades PHOTO: IN

People again questioned the causes that could have led to the landslide. “I heard that why did you want to make a cross there on Grădiștea mare. For years, as many mayors as were with us, nothing like this happened”the woman said.

“No significant changes”

Authorities monitoring the landslide situation say things are stable. The slide has not progressed, but people still cannot enter the seven marked dwellings, except accompanied.

“The situation was constantly monitored by my colleagues at the scene, with the support of the Police, Gendarmerie and Local Police crews. During the night, the landslide area was constantly monitored. From the centralized data up to this moment, there are no significant changes neither in terms of the landslide, nor in terms of the situation at the two affected homes. Our mission continues to focus on supporting the population in the situation where it is necessary to evacuate goods, animals or protect them. We also secure the area in order to allow access to the owners only accompanied by a staff from ISU Olt in the situation where they have to evacuate personal goods, medicines, or other things of strict necessity”. stated the spokesperson of ISU Olt, Alin Băsășteanu.

The landslide started at the end of last week, with two houses visibly affected, one of which was half destroyed.

The authorities that evaluated the situation on the spot made the decision to evacuate seven families from the same number of buildings, a total of 25 people (including nine children). The houses in danger were built over 15 years ago, without permits, on illegally occupied land on Grădiște street, at the base of Grădiște hill.

The former mayor Darius Vâlcov took possession of the land for the citizens who built illegally, so that they could connect to the utilities, declare the properties to taxes, be able to make their identity documents, etc.. However, the problem of the lack of building permits remained. The primary act, Mario De Mezzo, argued during the CJSUU meeting on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, that no authority could have issued such building permits on that land because it would be unsafe for construction. He did not specify, however, whether there is any expertise to support his point of view.

The owners of the affected houses can enter to recover their belongings only accompanied PHOTO: Ionelia Nucă

Citizens affected by the landslide were promised the allocation of new lots to be taken over to build other properties. Until the houses are built, families will be able to place their modular containers on those plots (see VIDEO above) that the Slatina City Hall has made available and which for now are temporarily located on a plot of land also located in the Grădiște neighborhood, not far from Grădiște street. The location bothers the victims the most who, for this reason, refuse to move into the containers now.