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WATCH: ‘Is This The Middle Ages?’ Collapse Victim Janet Walker Shocked By B’Kara Family’s Ordeal

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A woman who lost her home in a collapse last year has spoken out against the treatment of a family in Birkirkara whose building is also facing collapse due to next door’s development.

“Is this the Middle Ages?” Janet Walker asked in a video message she just posted to Facebook.

“There is a family in Fleur-de-Lys who is afraid of being buried alive. When you’re afraid, there’s no worse feeling, especially in your safe place, your home. We went through this ourselves,” she said.

Walker, whose Gwardamangia home is still in ruin, could not believe that the Montebello family was given a method statement confirming the building is likely to collapse and works continued.

Worse still, the family had to fund a geological study to try and get the works stopped.

“Why does this family have to fund a geological test? Where are the architects? How come this is not being done by the developers? What if someone is elderly or does not understand how these things happen? Should they end up buried? Is that the logic of today? Come on.”

This is a concern shared by Matthew Montebello who told Lovin Malta that he is battling the authorities not just for himself but the many others facing similar injustices.

“I know what’s happening because I can read in English and understand a method statement. And also because I am an electrician and marine surveyor who used to work in construction so I can see works being done wrongly,” he said.

The Montebello family has been struggling with a large development next door to them for weeks. Besides daily tremors and cracks in the wall, they have two reports confirming in writing that their home is at risk of collapse.

Yet, the Building and Construction Agency has dismissed their latest report as “preliminary”, arguing that a fresh geotechnical report will be carried out once the site is cleared from the rubble.

It is now known what the clearing of the rubble would add to the geological report which was based on material extracted from the drilling of seven boreholes at the developer’s expense.

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Christian is an award-winning journalist and entrepreneur who founded Lovin Malta, a new media company dedicated to creating positive impact in society. He is passionate about justice, public finances and finding ways to build a better future.

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