I can’t begin to describe the horror I felt when I saw the scene of devastation in Baberton Mains Avenue last Saturday. Not just the rubble where a family home once stood, the debris everywhere, the damaged cars, the windows smashed in neighbouring houses, but knowing a man had lost his life and a couple were lying in hospital, perhaps not knowing they had lost everything.
Instead of Christmas lights, trees were bedecked with roof insulation.
We see these kinds of incidents on our televisions regularly, think it’s terrible and then get up and put the kettle on, but it’s only when it’s your community that you fully understand what dreadful incidents like this really mean.
I know the pictures were everywhere and it’s news, but I found it upsetting to see the images of devastation so close to home each time I scrolled through social media on my phone.
But whatever I was feeling was nothing compared to what the families directly affected were going through and that’s when my sadness turned to pride at the support the community was able to give ─ the appeal launched by neighbour Ross Aitchison has raised around £30,000 ─ and then to anger at the lack of it provided by the local authority.
The explosion happened about 10.25pm on Friday night, and the only contact many had from Edinburgh Council was a brief call from social services late on Sunday, and even that was just enquiring after their mental health, not offering practical assistance with things like accommodation, food, clothing and access to money.
Displaced people had no access to information at all, as if being put up in spare rooms by kind neighbours, as some were, meant the authority didn’t need to worry. But many had been evacuated with virtually nothing more than the clothes they wore and couldn’t cross the barriers to retrieve valuables.
The miserable weather left belongings in the damaged properties and vehicles open to more damage, and when residents called the council’s emergency helpline, but no-one returned the messages they left. Many resorted to asking police officers at the cordon who couldn’t know much more than they did.
There are young families who were in rented accommodation, and one has now ended up in rented accommodation in Falkirk, but with a damaged car stuck in the cordon the children can’t get to school, or the parents to work.
Others who have lived there for decades are coming to terms with the fact their homes may have to be demolished, and financing a new home in today’s economic climate will be tough, even with insurance.
Who was on hand to advise? Not the council. By the time you read this I hope most of these issues will have been resolved, but they certainly weren’t four days after the blast which is completely unacceptable. Thank goodness for community networks.
I don’t know who told council leader Cammy Day that council officers “assisted into the early hours”, because if that’s the case the many people I’ve contacted knew nothing about it. In fact, the senior officers I spoke to agree their response was too little and too late.
Councillors should be demanding a full explanation and, as ever, I hope lessons are learnt.
