Building collapses have caused terrible property damage and fatalities throughout history in various regions of the world. Thousands of people have died as a result of some of the worst building disasters. According to our data, the most notable five building collapses in recent memory are listed below. Also, we will discuss five ways to save your life and prevent structural failure in the end.
The five deadliest famous building collapses in history due to structure failure are :
1.Dhaka garment factory collapse
This 8-floor garment factory is located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is the worst structural failure in history. It caused more than 1200 deaths and 2500+ injuries. The causes of the structure's failure were the illegal addition of three extra floors and the use of poor materials in construction. There are also issues due to poor ground soil conditions and the building was converted from residential to commercial use. In the basement, there are banks and shops. and the cloth industry on the top floors. The staff from the basement evacuated on time. Many lives would have been saved if the managers had allowed the workers on the top floor to evacuate. When cracks first appeared in the building the previous day, the owners were warned not to use it. The building fell during the morning rush hour after garment workers were told to return the following day, as managers argued that the vibrations were due to machines and generators.
2. Sampoong Department Store collapse
Sampoong is a department store in Seoul, South Korea. It caused 500 deaths and nearly 1,000 injuries. The main reasons for the structure's collapse were structural overload and punching shear in the top slab. The shocking thing is that the owners already knew that the building might collapse. The engineers had already told Lee Han-Sang (owner) that it would collapse. But Lee and his management team's sole answer was to move goods and stores from the top floor to the basement.After some time, the building begins to vibrate, and the structure collapses in just 4 seconds. They let so many people die just for their one day of profit.
3. Thane building collapse
The Structure was located in Mumbra Thane, Maharashtra, India. The building collapses, crushing labourers, families and construction site employees resided in the building. The 100 to 150 low-to middle-income occupants of the building did not have an occupancy certificate because it was still under construction. The main culprits were builders and many government officials such as Deputy Commissioner, Assistant Municipal Commissioner, real estate agents, and NCP Corporator, who caused 70 deaths and nearly 70 serious injuries. It also includes fake engineers and fake architects. Poor planning, unethical designing, and very inappropiate foundation. as the bearing capacity of soil was very low. The structure started to tilt before a portion of it fell,which led to the entire structure collapsing like a pack of cards within three to four seconds.
4. Fengcheng power station scaffold collapse
In 2016, scaffolding at Fengcheng power station collapsed in the Chinese city of Fengcheng in Jiangxi province, China. The building structure did not collapse here, but the scaffolding failure occurred, which leads to huge life loss. Scaffolding is used for casting the structure, and for tall structures, the scaffolding used is made up of steel, which is heavy and it should be fixed and designed properly. More than 60 employees were working on the platform at the time and another dozen were ready to start their shift at 7 a.m. on the ground. when the platform of a cooling tower being built for a power plant fell causing nearly 74 deaths and 12 serious injuries. In recent years, the government has become more serious about work safety, But tens of thousands of work-related deaths still occur in mines and factories, at building sites and on the roads every year.
5. Versallies wedding hall disaster
Versallies wedding hall disaster, located in Talpiot, Jerusalem. In addition to being one of the biggest building disasters in the country’s history, the catastrophe stunned the public, since it was captured on camera and shown on both local and foreign media. It was a three-story building, when all the people were celebrating and enjoying it, Suddenly, the floor broke and all the people collapsed under it, bride who suffered serious pelvic injuries that required surgery, causing 400 injuries overall and 25 deaths, the main reason for the structure's failure was that two more floors were included illegally, On the existing structure, the bottom structure was already weak and also due to poor slab design as it was for residential use only, but was used for commercial purposes; that's why the failure occurred.
Conclusions and lessons learned from these structural failures are mentioned below &
Five ways to prevent structural failure:
- Always hire a structural engineer to design your home or any structure. Your structure will be economical and safe.
- Quality check of materials should be done.
- The quantity used should be according to the code of conduct.
- Be alert while scaffolding work is underway. Make sure it is properly fixed, especially in high-rise buildings. Failures of scaffolding occur very often due to high wind loads, improper connections, and human negligence.
- Whenever you want to add floors to your existing structure or need any modification to your structure, like converting it into a commercial or industrial structure, always consult a structural engineer. Otherwise, your whole structure may fail.
- When you observe any cracking or vibration in a structural component, you should run away from it immediately because a building takes certain seconds before collapsing.