Tragedy amidst construction mania

Miriam Pace with husband Carmel

A terrible tragedy hit Malta last Monday when a house collapsed leaving a woman trapped under the rubble. A few other collapses happened last year, leaving many people homeless, but this is the first time that left a fatality. 54-year-old Miriam Pace was a mother of two adult children, and who with her husband was a frequent volunteer at a Carmelite church, where she will be buried today in Valletta. Unfortunately, this tragedy was the result of construction mania overtaking the entire country with tower-cranes all over the once-picturesque skyline of Malta. I share with you a part of an editorial published yesterday in the Times of Malta which highlights the outrage that everyone is expressing right now: For the last 20 years or so, our relentless building frenzy bulldozed Malta’s nature, history, and infrastructure and paved the way for the cementification of the island. Just look around you: beautiful buildings and gardens continue being torn down to make space for yet another tasteless block of flats with underlying garages. Tower cranes loom ominously over a skyline once dominated by church steeples as construction vehicles and dust choke our daily lives. The result: the uglification of Malta, the destruction of our rich history and the lack of space, which is having serious impacts on our health. This is what happens when we allow ourselves to be driven by greed when we have governments bent on facilitating construction, come hell or high water. Anger is justified when a building collapses but nobody is held accountable, or when the Planning Authority takes a hard line against minor infringements in private residences but turns a blind eye to the bullying tactics of larger developers. Miriam Pace’s death should be the tipping point. We have sadly turned a blind eye to too many stories of poor migrant workers (being paid a pittance) who have fallen to their death because of lax safety practices. Today’s victim is a woman who was going about her daily life in what should have been the comfort of her own home. 
Miriam Pace, rest in peace, and we’ll remember you and pray for your family.