Dire state of neglect
Photo: Roee Idan
'Beersheba shelters in dire state'
Residents of Negev's capital worried about deteriorating condition of public fortified areas, say many are locked, taken over by drug addicts or just too far from their place of residence
The recent Grad rocket attack on the southern city of Beersheba served as a painful reminder that even two years after Operation Cast Lead, the Negev capital can become once again the target of terror organizations in Gaza.
Another painful reminder is the city's unpreparedness to protect its residents from what seems to be a looming missile threat.
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For those residents depending on public fortified spaces, the situation is far from satisfactory. Residents complain that municipal shelters are in a dire state of neglect, and that some have been taken over by squatters.
Resident left with no choice (Photo: Roee Idan)
Other residents lamented over the great distance between their homes and the closest shelter, and expressed concern that in the case of a real-time siren, they will not have enough time to reach a safe place.
These problems are mostly felt in Beersheba's older neighborhoods, and their residents – usually students, senior citizens and low-income families – are left with no choice but to hope that the next missile attack skips them.
"During the recent alarm, we didn’t know where to run. There are no shelters and everything is shut. Where is the municipality?" said Rachel, who lives in one of the city's old neighborhoods.
"You can't live this way. When the alarm was sounded I sat on the staircase and cried. The shelter is far and there's no one to guide or help me get there," she added angrily.
No where to go. Locked shelter in Beersheba (Photo: Roee Idan)
Another local resident described the shelters' advanced state of neglect. "Most of them are locked, and have an awful stench, garbage and other things. Those who were kept open became homes of drug addicts and dubious characters."
In an attempt to reassure residents, the Beersheba Municipality stated that it would invest some NIS 2 million (about $500,000) in public shelter renovations, and an additional NIS 1 million will be allocated for this purpose as soon as next week.
Head of Beersheva Emergency Situation Room Amit Reingold said special teams will be dispatched to locate shelters in need of renovation.
Responding to residents' complains, Reingold noted that "the shelters in the city are locked because we haven’t received an instruction from Home Front Command to open them," but stressed that residents who requested to sleep in the shelter during the recent attack were given permission to do so.
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