Almost six years after the explosion on Rue de Trévise, the first residents were finally able to move back into their homes.
The first residents of Rue de Trévise finally return to their homes. Nearly six years after the explosion which left four dead and dozens injured, it is time for boxes, work, but above all emotion.
Having just returned home, Odile has “terrible memories” of January 12, 2019. Her apartment was blasted by the explosion, turning her dining room upside down and causing a French window to fall, as she shows. in the photos taken after the tragedy.
The last time she had spent the night in her apartment, she had been with her husband. He died two months after the explosion. For her return home, however, she was able to count on her daughter, who came for two weeks.
“She told me: 'tonight we're sleeping here'. I didn't want to, but she told me: 'you have to get used to it, you have to get used to it'”, explains -she And added: “I'm anxious (…) It's hard.”
Christmas in his apartment
His return still brings back good memories. “We all did Christmases here. Even Christmas 2018, three weeks before the explosion, it was here with the whole family,” confides the retiree with nostalgia. For her, several years have been stolen from her: “It's still five Christmases a bit wasted. Given my age, the years count double. So we decided, this year, to have Christmas here.”
And for Odile, re-equipping with gas is out of the question. “I don't want it to start again. Even if it's new and it can't happen, it's a fear. I don't want any more gas,” she says.
For the 400 people who had to leave their homes, however, the battle is not yet over. Some residents of other buildings still cannot not return to their accommodationwhile others plan to never return.
“The rue de Trévise (…) is a double whammy, you have the trauma of the explosion, the lack of support and the fact that we had to fend for ourselves,” laments Linda Zaourar, president of the association of victims of survivors of rue de Trévise.
