“That night, during the evacuation, someone called me and said: ‘The building moved like an earthquake,’” says Michalis, owner of an apartment building in Athens’ Botanicos neighborhood — a structure that tilted dangerously due to nearby construction work for a new residential building.
A Familiar Nightmare
Just as residents of the collapsed building on Alkmnis Street in Petralona took matters into their own hands and evacuated, so too did the tenants of Michalis’s building in Botanicos. Four years after the incident — and following the recent collapse of a residential building in Petralona — Michalis spoke to newsit.gr, recounting how he and his family lived through the same nightmare in 2022. He says the experience devastated them financially, and they are still seeking justice through the courts.
Christmas Eve Collapse
The harrowing images of total destruction from the Petralona building — which left four families homeless and their belongings buried in minutes — reignited Michalis’s trauma. In late 2022, shortly after the pandemic crisis, Christmas would become a date etched in memory for residents of the building at Spyrou Patsi 119 in Botanicos. On December 19 — just days before Christmas — their building began shifting violently due to excavation and foundation work on the adjacent plot.
The structure, built in phases — ground floor before 1950, first floor in 1961, second floor in 1964 — started moving as nearby construction progressed. “Fortunately, our building didn’t fully collapse,” Michalis explains. “It held, but suffered massive damage: partial detachment, tilting, separation from the neighboring building — effectively disintegrating.”
At the time, eight tenants were inside — including families with children. Shortly after midnight, one resident called him in panic: “Mr. Michalis, something happened — the building moved like an earthquake.” That call confirmed his worst fears. Michalis ran to the scene and found all residents gathered terrified in the street. Police arrived soon after and ordered immediate evacuation. Tenants managed to grab only a few personal items — and none ever returned to live there.
Aftermath and Aftermath
Days later, acting on his own initiative, Michalis entered the ground floor to salvage what he could from his tutoring center — the business he operated in the building. He was forced to relocate it about 30–40 meters away to keep operating.