Other

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

Assignment

Factual

Investigations and journeys into the heart of global events from BBC correspondents.

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

Assignment: Europe’s most dangerous capital

Documentaries

News

Europe’s Most Dangerous Capital

04/02/2021 GMT

Europe’s most dangerous capital

BBC World Service - Assignment, Europe’s most dangerous capital

Bucharest’s crumbling buildings are full of life despite the frequent earth tremors

Bucharest’s crumbling and neglected buildings are still full of life despite the frequent earth tremors.

Bucharest, in Romania, is arguably Europe’s most dangerous capital city. It’s not the crime that’s the problem – it’s the buildings. Many of them don’t comply with basic laws and building regulations. Permits are regularly faked. And yet Bucharest is the most earthquake prone European capital. A serious quake would cause many of the buildings to collapse, with a potential loss of life into the thousands. Some years ago a red dot was put on a number of buildings in the city which were in danger of collapse. Nothing else has happened since.  A microcosm of the problem is a type of building called ‘camine de nefamilisti’, or ‘homes for those without families’. These were built during the Ceaucescu era to temporarily house workers brought in from the countryside and people who were still single after university. The single room flats, the size of a prison cell, with a communal shower and toilet on each floor were never meant for families. But after the fall of Communism many of these ‘matchboxes’ ended up in private hands and conditions deteriorated, with whole families moved into spaces designed for a single person. Simona Rata grew up in one of these buildings. For Assignment, she returns to the ‘camine de nefamilisti’ and finds little has changed since her childhood.

Reporter and producer: Simona Rata
Assistant editor: John Murphy
Editor: Bridget Harney


(Image: Abandoned building on Calea Mosilor, a busy street in the centre of Bucharest. Credit: Simona Rata/BBC)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Assignment

Europe’s most dangerous capital

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

About BBC World Service