Incident happened in Chinatown

 HAVANA -- (AP) -- An old, multistoried building in Havana's aging Chinatown collapsed early Wednesday, killing at least two people and injuring two others.

 The collapse of a condemned building at least five stories high near the main entrance of Chinatown occurred shortly after 1 a.m., state radio reported.

 Two injured women were pulled from the rubble and two other people died, the official Radio Rebelde station said.

 Access to the accident site was blocked by police, but two hearses and two ambulances could be seen from a street corner about a block away.

 Building collapses in Havana's more dilapidated neighborhoods are relatively common, especially in the days after heavy rains as soaked buildings dry out and weaken.

 But deaths and injuries are rare. Light to moderate rains fell on the capital over the weekend.

 Search-and-rescue teams with dogs, firefighters and police crowded on the street in front of what looked like a huge pile of sand and rocks.

 Fire department Col. Raul Orta told Radio Rebelde that more than 100 firefighters and rescue team members were working in the rubble.

 At least six dump trucks had been called to cart away the debris.

 In the early afternoon, Orta told reporters at the scene that rescue efforts were continuing but that he did not expect to find any more dead or injured.

 The radio station said that the building had been evacuated by authorities several months before because of its precarious condition but that some families had later
 returned to live there.

 Many of the buildings in Havana, especially in older neighborhoods such as Chinatown, are seriously deteriorated because of lack of maintenance and overcrowding.

 The nation's capital suffers from a severe housing crisis, exacerbated because many Cubans continue to migrate from the provinces to Havana in search of financial
 opportunities.

 Havana is home to many of the country's better paying jobs as well as sources of illegal income related to tourism, such as prostitution and other black market "services'' offered foreign visitors.

 The government passed a law in 1997 aimed at restricting the flow of migration to the capital by requiring special approval to move here.

 About 2.2 million people -- approximately 20 percent of the country's 11 million citizens -- live in Havana.

                                    © 2001