Residents will gradually be able to return to their homes and traffic will resume on rue de Tivoli in Marseille. More than a year after the gas explosion which left eight dead, the town hall announced the gradual lifting of the security perimeter.
“It’s not yet back to normal, but we’re practically there,” announces Patrick Amico, deputy mayor of Marseille, in charge of housing.
More than a year after the tragedy on Rue de Tivoli, the security perimeter was gradually lifted, between June 24 and July 1. “If we were not able to intervene before,” explains the elected official, “it is because this security perimeter was the consequence of work that absolutely had to be done to maintain the solidity of the buildings.” For several months, props connected the building at 19 rue de Tivoli and that at 43, opposite, in order to prevent the collapse of 19.
These props have been removed “by constantly checking with laser sights that there was no problem with structural movement on the buildings concerned.”
The barriers and security of buildings will be gradually lifted until July 1, to allow owners who wish to return to their homes and to have repair or compensation quotes made by their insurance companies. Surveillance cameras and reinforced police patrols will ensure the security of the neighborhood and prevent thefts in these urgently evacuated homes.
Five buildings and two individual houses are still prohibited from access due to work. In all, around fifty families were still displaced, following the gas explosion on the night of April 8 to 9, 2023, 17 rue de Tivoli.
