Apartment fire exposes deep gap between rich and poor in the heart of London

The tragic apartment fire in London clearly shows the rich-poor divide in one of the most developed cities in the world.

Children play in the street after the Grenfell Tower fire in London, England, on June 14. Photo: CNN

Just a 10-minute walk from Grenfell Tower, which was gutted in a devastating fire on June 14, one is transported to a completely different world, the world of London’s super-rich. Expensive carsBMWs, Jaguars and Audis line the streets. Rows of four-storey townhouses still smell of fresh paint. Teams of construction workers are busy renovating multi-million pound mansions.

Standing in this area and looking back, one can easily see a black cube against the deep blue sky. It is a 24-storey apartment building, which just last week was home to hundreds of families, mostly low-income workers.

The two extremes of rich and poor, just a few steps apart, coexist side by side. The Grenfell Tower fire disaster suddenly made Londoners realize the deep gap between social classes,HuffPost UK reported.

Two worlds in one neighborhood

"On your right is a carRolls Royce and to your left is the slum. This contrasting image shows the difference between wealth and poverty,"James Sheridan, a 28-year-old chef, commented.

Statistics show that compared to their neighbours living across the road, Grenfell residents have significantly lower incomes, jobs and life expectancy.A government survey ranked Grenfell Tower, located in the affluent Kensington and Chelsea district of London, as one of the poorest areas in England in 2015. The survey based its classification on criteria such as income, deprivation and barriers to accessing housing and services.

Illustrated on the map, the location of Grenfell Tower lies within the dark red area, the poorest area. The immediate neighbourhood, just a few streets away, is marked in blue, as opposed to red, which represents wealth.

Based on a 2015 government survey, the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block is located in an area marked in deep red, which represents the poorest living standards. Photo: HuffPost

"On one side, you will see rich people with bustling apartment buildings, and on the other side, you will see social housing apartments in a state of neglect for a long time,"Azar Hussain, a resident who lives near Grenfell Tower and knows many people there, said.

According to locals, the rich-poor divide in west London is not only invisible but also manifests itself in very tangible things such as the tall iron gates that separate the villas from the outside world.

"I noticed the poor were isolated from the rich," Mr. Sheridan said, comparing one side to "cheese" and the other side to "black coal."

While real estate in the areaKensington and Chelsea are typically listed for an average of $1.8 million, while an apartment in Grenfell Tower costs around $320,000. Market research expertHussain said there was such a big difference in price because one side was a privately owned house and the other side was a social housing apartment.

“Social housing residents often struggle to make ends meet,” Hussain commented.

Labour MP Emma Dent Coad, who won last week's election, said "(In London) there is a lot ofn in extremely poor areas. People there are getting poorer, their incomes are falling, their life expectancy is low and their health is getting worse. The poor in Kensington are not benefiting from economic growth at all," the politician emphasized the "trickle-down economics theory" or ""Osmosis economics" does not work. According to this theory, the government will reduce taxes for businesses, the rich and investors to stimulate production and business, thereby helping the economy grow and create wealth for all classes, including the bottom class of society.

Rage of the Poor

Residents of social housing estates say the local council “doesn’t care” about the conditions they live in. Many of the buildings are in a terrible state of disrepair.

"They don't even look at you. The renovations drag on for months and months... Our apartment is full of cracks, holes, water-soaked walls, rot and mold, not to mention cockroaches, rats and ants. But they just want us to shut up," said Ms. Kim, a local resident, indignantly.

Mubin Haq, policy director at the Foundation for London, explains the marginalisation of the bottom class: "We see areas likeKensington and Chelsea don't have a 'middle class' so you'll see a stark contrast between rich and poor." Mr Haq also acknowledged the psychological impact of poor people living in an environment where social stratification is present every day. They will constantly compare and feel stuck in their lives.

The poor are often trapped in cramped and inadequate living conditions. They lack access to basic services such as health care and education. Children from poor families are crowded into schools with poor facilities.A resident said the local schoolHolland ParkNot currently open to all students.

"In my opinion, this is social cleansing, racial cleansing. That's it! Period," the angry resident said, "It all comes down to money."

"Just because of poverty, some people lost their lives or were left with nothing (after the Grenfell apartment fire)",Akala, an artist living nearby, repliedChannel 4, "There is no way rich people would live in an apartment building that does not ensure fire safety like that. I talked to many residents there, they said they did not hear the alarm bells going off and there was no automatic fire suppression system."

"Residents of Grenfell have repeatedly complained about safety issues, living in one of the richest areas of London, yet no one has listened to their opinions. This shows the reality that in modern British society, not everyone is heard. This polarization will cause catastrophic consequences," HuffPost journalistSkyler Baker-Jordan comments.

Government responsibility

Immediately after the fire destroyed the 24-storey apartment building, once home to about 500 people, Prime Minister Theresa May arrivedsceneBut instead of meeting the victims, Mrs. May only spoke to the fire department, then quickly left. The country's leader's brief presence sparked a wave of fierce criticism from the people, according toBloomberg.

"Many locals said her coming was useless," said Parvez, a volunteer helping with relief efforts.

"Politicians appear just to show their faces in the press,"Nelima Miah, a friend ofParvez, commented. "Right now, the community here is the leader, not the local people's council or the government."

People took to the streets in protest and angrily stormed the local council building, the Grenfell Tower Authority, chanting "We want justice".

London police have confirmed that the death toll from the fire has risen to 58 and is expected to rise. Many of the injured remain in a critical condition.

For Soran Karimi, 31, who lives in the apartment building across the street, the fire was nothing short of "murder" and "the person responsible must be prosecuted." According toKarimi, last year, the local council renovatedThis 1974 apartment building was built just so its appearance would blend in with the landscape of one of London's wealthiest areas.

"They do that not for the benefit of the residents living in the apartment building,""They just wanted the building to look good because it was right next to their house," Karimi said.

Fire safety experts believe that the cladding material used to cover the apartment building, installed during renovations last year, may have caused the fire to spread so quickly that it became uncontrollable. The US has banned the use of this material in high-rise construction since 2012. London police have announced a criminal investigation into the fire.

“The destitution is now just ashes,” sighed Sarah, a native Londoner who commutes past the block every day. “What we are looking at is not a building, it is a grave.”

According to VNE