the inhabitants of a makeshift camp feeling threatened by the Garonne flood ask to be relocated
About fifteen people of Albanian origin live in tents and barracks on the banks of the Garonne, in the Empalot district of Toulouse. With the rising waters of the past few days, they are worried and ask for urgent rehousing.
” We’re in danger, we’re all very scared “. Like fifteen other people with her, Mirela has been sleeping for 3 and a half months on the banks of the Garonne, in a makeshift camp located in the Empalot district of Toulouse. These are Albanian families made up of children, including the youngest at 5 years old, and seniors, including the oldest at 70 years old. They are all asylum seekers.
Because of the heavy rains, the level of the Garonne rose sharply, worrying the inhabitants of these barracks on the edge of the canal. On Friday, December 10, the police visited them. ” They told us we left because of the rising waters, so we took some blankets and clothes and left, but we had nowhere to go. We were not offered a place to sleep », Explains Mirela, who lives in this camp.
” In reality, there was a misunderstanding between the police, who claimed to have just wanted to tell them to be careful of the flood, and the Albanian families, who understood that they were being told to leave. », Specifies Antoine Bazin, coordinator ofUtopia 56 in Toulouse, association alongside these families since their arrival here. “ In any case, they were not offered any hosting solution », He regrets.
The inhabitants of the makeshift camp then took refuge in a nearby building hall. ” We slept there yesterday and we will sleep there again tonight and probably tomorrow. As long as the water does not drop, we are very afraid », Mirela slips. She claims to call 115 every day to ask for accommodation, her and the other inhabitants of the camp, but without success.
We just want to be able to sleep warm, wash and eat. It’s very cold, we haven’t eaten anything since yesterday, our things are all wet. With us there are children, a lady who has respiratory problems. We all fall ill one after the other under these conditions.
After the police room, the Utopia 56 association called the town hall to ask for an accommodation solution for these families. ” We were told that, as there had been no eviction, the emergency rehousing protocol could not be initiated. The town hall made a report to 115, but during this period everything is complete », Regrets Antoine Bazin, of Utopia 56 in Toulouse.
The decline of the Garonne having started, no alert has been formulated today concerning the situation of those who live at the edge of the water. ” We are faced with people who are already in great precariousness, who are afraid for their lives and who have no one to talk to, apart from associations », Adds Antoine Bazin.
Failing to relocate them, public institutions could at least take the trouble to inform them about the risks. These people are afraid, they go through every night without knowing what will happen to them the next day.
If the level of the Garonne rises again and the public authorities are called on that there is imminent danger, those who live by the canal must be shortened to a gymnasium. But for the moment, Mirela and her neighbors are preparing to spend another night in a hall of a building.