Dominican government to pay $500 monthly to families of nightclub collapse victims

Dominicans who lost family members in the April nightclub disaster that claimed 234 lives will receive “emergency” payments of about US$500 per month for six months, the government in Santo Domingo said Monday.

The roof of the Jet Set club came crashing down in the early hours of April 8 on hundreds of people attending the club, where merengue star Rubby Perez had been performing. It is referred to as the Caribbean nation’s worst disaster in decades.

Perez, 69, was among the victims, along with two retired Major League Baseball players and a provincial governor.

Gloria Reyes, director of the social programme Supérate, said Monday that a monthly payment of 30,000 pesos (about US$509) will be made to qualifying relatives starting next week. She said 205 families had already requested financial support.

An investigation into the tragedy is ongoing, and relatives have filed more than 50 lawsuits against the nightclub owners.

The Dominican Republic has no law requiring privately owned buildings to undergo safety inspections. After the disaster, President Luis Abinader said the government was drafting a bill to make inspections mandatory.