1,292 BUILDINGS ''KILLERS' NATIONWIDE - THE ALARM SIGNAL FOR THE POSSIBLE COLLAPSE OF DANGEROUS BUILDINGS WAS SENT YEARS AGO, BUT SOME TURNED A DEAF EAR - Filenews 13/4 by Vassos Vassiliou
An open secret was the finding that dangerous buildings are a time bomb that will explode at some point with possible casualties. Balconies were falling on their own, walls were suddenly collapsing, and cracks in buildings were multiplying.
The necessity of adequate regulation of the issue of dangerous buildings has been discussed for many years and a year ago (April 2, 2025) in Filenews we wrote that their number nationwide amounts to 1,292.
According to the data we had collected, of the dangerous constructions, 618 were in Nicosia, 308 in Limassol, 170 in Larnaca, 26 in Famagusta and 170 in Paphos.
If it is taken into account that after the reform of Local Government, on 1/7/2025, the responsibility for the supervision of dangerous buildings was transferred from the Local Authorities to the EOAs, who complained about the lack of funds, and given that no services had even been set up to carry out the necessary inspections, it is very likely that the above number (1,292) has increased. In fact, even some buildings that were supported in the past to prevent them from collapsing, may be in a worse condition today in terms of static adequacy.
On October 3, 2025, on the occasion of a discussion before the Parliamentary Committee on the Interior, we wrote in Filenews, that "there are apartment buildings, which with a slight earthquake can collapse and kill people, which is why the issue of dangerous buildings must be regulated as soon as possible".
The above excerpt was recorded based on what the civil engineer and general secretary of the Scientific Technical Chamber (ETEK) Andreas Theodotou had testified before the Committee.
The reference by Mr. Theodotou was made in the context of a discussion of a bill by the then MP and current Minister of Labour, Mr. Marinos Mousiouttas, which aimed and still aims to regulate the problem of dangerous buildings.
Mr. Theodotou had stated that "the problem is mainly observed in Nicosia and Limassol and especially in the centers of these cities, without meaning that in other parts of them or in other cities there are no problems with dangerous constructions".
"We must understand that the safety of the public in general is very important, so we must find a way to ensure it, because the situation is very difficult," added the general secretary of ETEK.
He had further stated that the Chamber raised the issue of regular inspection of buildings from time to time and added that at some stage the measure must be implemented.
He also suggested that the support/restoration of dangerous buildings could start from the communal ones, in which more people live than individual buildings.
In the same publication, we stated that "the discussion of the bill concerning the legislative regulation of the operation of communally owned buildings, in which almost half of the population of Cyprus lives, ended ingloriously, with the relevant bill now up in the air".
As it emerged from what the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on the Interior had mentioned, the process was blocked due to the fact that the Ministry of the Interior assigned the responsibility for handling the issue and in general the supervision of communal buildings to the Provincial Self-Government Organizations without consulting them and without approving the resources with which staff will be hired to handle the cases, and so on.
Characteristic was the reference of Mr. Konstantinos Georghadjis, that "the EOAs became the sytzia of Mavros" with the assignment of responsibilities that were previously carried out by others and even without consultation.
