Over 600 people were left homeless after the fire in Govnyarka, Rostov. Photo: Yury_Ch / VK.com.In August last year, Rostov-on-Don suffered the biggest fire in its history. Over several hours on 21 August, fires turned an entire neighbourhood behind Rostov’s central Theatre Square into ash.
“It was like hell in miniature,” Roman Nevedrov, a journalist with the local Delovoi kvartal magazine told me at the time. “I used to work at an insurance company in the area, so I know it well, and everything I remember there has just gone. The lower part of the district has been completely burned to the ground.” More than 100 homes were burned down in the district (known locally as Govnyarka), and over 200 families were left without their homes.
More than six months have passed, but only 50 families have received housing. And on 31 March, families still living in hotels on the city council’s expense had to leave, despite not having had their housing lined up.
