$1Billion Pours in to Rebuild Notre Dame
The Cathedral of Notre Dame receives financial help from various sources, in order to rebuild the burnt portions
The President of France, Emmanuel Macron set a five year deadline for the reconstruction of the burnt section of the Cathedral. This deadline ends in 2024. Coincidentally, this is the same year when Paris will host the Olympics. Rebuilding the church in just 5 years seems unrealistic. Nearly $1 billion has already been collected. From ordinary worshippers to tourists, to owners of big brands like L’oreal etc, have all pooled in resources to fundthis reconstruction.
Construction teams brought in a huge crane, and a delivery of wood for the reconstruction of the church was received yesterday, 17th April. Amidst all this, firefighters are still trying to ascertain the cause of the fire. With reference to the actual unfolding of the incident, the fire alarm first rang out when the last prayers of the day were being offered, at 6:20pm. The roof of the church is made of long and ancient wooden beams. Each beam is made of one tree bark. There are 1300 in total. At 6:43 another alarm rang. This time, officials found a huge fire had broken out in the attic.
The cause of the fire isn’t known yet. However, the cathedral was not equipped with modern fire prevention safety features like water sprinklers etc. These features were not put up, since they didn’t want to spoil the cathedral’s design. They didn’t want to put any electrical wiring or equipment in the roof, as it seemed like a threat due to soo much of wood used in the roof.
The President of the Paris Historical Association, said that the cathedral management had refused to install any electrical equipment. He also said that everyone knew that the roof and the attic was the most important part of the cathedral.
