The Riga disaster. unnoticed

(BRUSSELS2) I am very surprised that the supermarket disaster in Riga, Latvia found so little echo in our newspapers and among our political leaders.

One of the most serious accidents in Europe

The accident at the Maxima supermarket in the suburbs of Riga is, however, one of the most serious in Europe. Occurred Thursday evening, at the end of the day, when the store was experiencing a certain influx, the collapse of the roof should cause around 60 deaths and several dozen injuries. Since the first alert, which spoke of 6 dead, the toll has only increased hour by hour. Sunday morning, the official report showed 54 people dead, and 7 people still reported missing by their families (*). Not to mention some injured in serious condition.

54 dead, including 3 firefighters, and 7 missing

Doctors, firefighters and soldiers were mobilized. Nearly 150 firefighters from Riga and the Vidzeme region were still at work on Sunday morning to search around 80 m2 of ruins. But the rescue services are very pessimistic about the chances of finding survivors, according to Latvian media. " The pauses observed during the search did not reveal any trace of life. explains the rescue manager.

Relief work delayed

« The work is slow because of the thickness of debris in some places which reaches up to several meters but also the risk of the roof collapsing. The rescue had to be stopped several times. The roof of the building also collapsed three times: an hour after the disaster first, then a second time, killing three firefighters, and a third time on Saturday, fortunately without any other victims. The cause of the accident is not yet identified. But as a precaution, other shopping centers of the same type, notably in Lithuania are being inspected.

Three days of national mourning in solitude

Latvia has declared 3 days of national mourning since Saturday. And 3 minutes of silence will be observed Monday at 10 a.m. nationwide. The Baltic countries joined in this mourning. But elsewhere in Europe, we can say that it is dead calm. Admittedly, the President of the European Commission, José-Manuel Barroso sent a telegram of condolences. Elsewhere, we are at minimum service. In the French or Belgian media in particular, few lines on this disaster, if anything at all. It is only necessary to compare with the attack of the Westgate center in Kenya, some time ago, to have an indication of the temperature of solidarity (certainly it was an attack always more mobilizing).

The weight of Latvia

Admittedly, in terms of disasters, in the media and at the level of politicians, a so-called death/km law is applied. In other words, the further the disaster is and the fewer victims it causes, the less it is commented on. But I have some doubts about the veracity of this "law" which deserves to be nuanced. Today in the age of the internet, the slightest train accident in the United States, India or Japan is listed. And if this disaster had taken place in one of these countries, however far away, or in another country of the European Union (in Germany or Italy for example), we would certainly have talked about it much more.

"Zolitude" or Solidarity

It must be recognized, in terms of news and solidarity, the parameter of the importance of the country on the world stage, just like the affect that we have for it, play just as much. Latvia counts for little in our French-speaking countries, and the accident occurred in a not very upscale suburb of the Latvian capital, aptly called... Zolitude. However, it might be interesting to be able to share a little European solidarity in these painful times.

(*) The list of victims was published by the Latvian fire and rescue service, to consult here. We note the presence of two Russian citizens and an Armenian citizen.