According to the spokesman for the Administrative Commission of Luanda, Francisco Alexandre, authorities have identified in that area, around 60 kilometers from Luanda, a land that already has energy and water, to be distributed to families for self-directed construction.
Francisco Alexandre told Lusa that shortly after the incident, the president of the Luanda Administrative Commission, Maria Antónia Nelumba, went to the scene to verify the situation and immediately take the necessary measures.
"In fact, the situation is difficult, it is complicated. The first thing the administrative commission did was to survey the affected people and families. On the first day, we took care of taking meals to the population that is there without their possessions", he stressed.
The spokesman for the administrative commission said that the people will be permanently resettled in Kaxicane, in the Catete area, in the municipality of Icolo e Bengo, and the cleaning of the place is being carried out at this time.
"There's water, there's energy, but as it was unoccupied for a long time, the machines are cleaning and each family will receive a lot for self-directed construction. That's the solution, because there are no houses [available] for that number of families," he said.
The official underlined the importance of this resettlement, admitting that the conditions in which people lived were not the best.
"The solution that was found is this, to get people out of that place, because, let's face it, the conditions in which they lived were sub-human. Now each one will have their own plot of land and the government will help in the self-directed construction" , he stressed.
While the population is not moved to Kaxicane, Francisco Alexandre continued, today a community kitchen was set up in the Areia Branca area, to allow people to have their meals, as many lost all their possessions.
"They had almost nothing and with this situation their staff has worsened enormously, there are community kitchens, there are several supports that are starting to arrive, the Red Cross attended today, some charities are providing supplies and at the institutional level, the The support we are giving is the daily meals, lunch and dinner, and this support, which is more substantial, a lot for each family to build," he added.
Regarding the date scheduled for the transfer of the families, Francisco Alexandre preferred not to proceed with any, assuring that "efforts are being made to remove the population as quickly as possible [from the place]".
A fire, on 28 July, caused by a resident in a state of drunkenness, who, when he fell asleep with a lit candle, set his house on fire, consumed a total of 150 houses made of agglomerated sheets in the middle of two drainage ditches, in the community of Areia Branca, in the Samba district of Luanda.
SOS Habitat - Solidarity Action, a non-governmental organization for the defense of human rights, today condemned "the degrading situation" and the slowness of the authorities in assisting these more than 500 families after the fire, a position that was refuted by the spokesperson for the Luanda Administrative Commission.
