A general view shows the debris and carcasses of cars after the explosion of a bakery at the corner of rue Sainte-Cecile and rue de Trévise in the 9th arrondissement of Paris on January 12, 2019. -
Carl LABROSSE / AFP
On January 12, 2019, four people including two firefighters died in an explosion linked to a gas leak.
The Paris town hall and the condominium manager were indicted in September 2020 for “involuntary homicides and injuries”.
The victims have still not received compensation.
“Sometimes we wonder if the stones and the windows are more important than us,” breathes Amor Ben Taiziri.
It's been two years since this father of three young children lost the use of his left arm and one eye in the explosion of a gas pipeline at 6 rue de Trévise, in the very chic 9th arrondissement of Paris. .
The man worked as a receptionist in the hotel across the street.
The blast of the explosion threw it several meters then… a black hole.
He woke up several hours later in hospital after being briefly in a coma.
On September 12, 2019, four people, including two firefighters, died and 66 others were injured.
“When we see that insurers prefer to rebuild buildings rather than compensate us, we can wonder how much importance we give to our lives,” insists the forty-something, whose days are now punctuated by his rehabilitation.
If, this Tuesday, it was time for commemorations, many victims, like Amor Ben Taiziri, do not hide their exasperation.
“Nothing has progressed for two years, deplores Dominique Paris, president of the association Trévise Ensemble.
The judicial investigation is in progress, expert opinions and second opinions follow one another.
The building at 6 rue de Trévise, gutted and still hidden behind high palisades, the blown-out windows and gaping walls bear witness to the violence of the explosion.
The renovations have still not started.
"It took 18 months for the rubble to be removed and another six months for the moves to finally begin," confused Delphine Bürkli, the mayor of the 9th arrondissement.
Opposite, like a snub, the work on the three hotels destroyed in the explosion is almost finished.
Sticks in the wheels
If the victims have been rehoused and their rent is covered - or at least part of it - by insurance, compensation is long overdue.
"Not only is the procedure long, but we are put in the wheel," laments Me Jonas Haddad, the lawyer for the associations of victims Treviso Ensemble and Victimes Survivés Explosion Trévise (Vret).
The council denounces the "double speech" of the town hall of Paris, indicted, like the trustee of co-ownership of the building, for "involuntary homicides and injuries": the town hall would seek to slow down the procedure by asking the government to legislate for that a compensation fund be created.
And this, while there are, according to the lawyer, "faster solutions" and all equally "effective": "It is useless to receive the victims if it is then to send them to the roses", he insists.
Her colleague, Me Karine Rémond, also deplores the attitude of GRDF, which could be required, as a gas distributor, to compensate the victims.
The company would have asked this week the judge in charge of controlling the civil expertise to put an end to it - which would automatically slow down the compensation - in the name of the secrecy of the investigation.
The magistrate has not yet decided.
Far from these expert battles, many residents confide that they are now in a delicate financial situation.
Because, after the explosion, all left in disaster and were never able to set foot in their building.
So everything had to be bought back, from the toothbrush to the sofa to the clothes.
The owners also continue to repay their credits.
“People are exhausted,” says Vanessa Mallet.
One of the survivors.
This second year is almost as hard as the first because you feel like you won't see the end of it.
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