fear spreads among the inhabitants of the building and they wonder “if this could happen again”

Gretel Lozada sits in the shade of palm trees at the back of a building facing the beach. Twelve floors above her daughter, María, and her one-year-old granddaughter live. It’s on Collins Avenue and 92nd Street, four blocks from the recently collapsed Champlain Towers complex in Miami. “My daughter called me distraught Thursday and that night he didn’t want to sleep here anymore. He came with the baby to my house, ”she confides to this envoy.

Three days later, the daughter and granddaughter decided to return to this seaside apartment, built in the 1970s, but recently renovated. “I’m a little scared, but we were watching the news and We saw that it looks like it fell because of a flaw in this building, something strange, it doesn’t seem to be the fault of the beach or the sand of Miami, “he said without much confidence.” They fixed our building, they changed the balconies, they renovated the swimming pool, nothing can happen, but I don’t know … Thinking that I have a family here scares me a little. “

The big question that has arisen throughout Miami after the collapse of the south tower of the complex, which has so far left 9 dead and more than a hundred missing, including 9 Argentines, is not only this that happened in the Champlain Towers, but: Can it happen again?

The question is more pressing for those who live by the sea, with the growing sea, salt encrusted where it is not needed and aged concrete.

The Champlain towers, in addition to the south tower which was destroyed, have two others: the north tower, built in 1982, a year after its collapse, and a third building, the more recent East Tower, from 1994.

It was to be expected that the inhabitants of the old tower, who can see from their balconies the search for rescuers among the rubble of the sister building, were afraid of the conditions of this building. Many have asked authorities to fund their evacuation. But they checked the structure and everything looked fine. In the end, the City promised help to anyone who wanted to evacuate.

Connoisseurs

In an attempt to allay the fear of waterfront residents, Miami Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has announced that she will order this in the coming days. all 40-year-old buildings are inspected or more that are seaside in your county to determine if they are safe.

Florida Governor Ron De Santis also said: “We need to know if this is something older or if it is just something unique to the building.” The causes of the collapse are not yet known. Engineer Frank Morabito warned the City in 2018 against “Structural risks”, that the pool deck did not have good drainage and that water seeping into the slabs corroded the concrete and columns in the garage.

Other experts point out that the building he sank a few millimeters per year. Others indicate materials corroded by salt. Among the rubble are expert engineers from across the country investigating what could have happened.

Necati Catbas, director of the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering (CECE) at the University of Central Florida, said Bugle that “it is still too speculative to say whether neighboring buildings are safe or not. If this issue is related to sagging in this area, it may be a good idea to check if there is a differential settlement in neighboring buildings, ie if certain columns and their foundations sag more than others ”.

“These buildings are close to the coast and are exposed to salt water. This can accelerate the aging and deterioration of the columns. Failure can be a combination of several reasons and we will know when more evidence and data is collected, ”he noted.

He added: “The owner you shouldn’t be alarmed just because your buildings are not newbecause they are inspected. It would be nice to supplement or support inspection engineers with the latest sensor technologies. There are detection systems to monitor the behavior of the building structure continuously or intermittently, if necessary. “

And adds: “These technologies can help greatly engineers to better understand and more objectively the condition of structures. With these technologies, you don’t have to wait for the next scheduled inspection, but you get continuous objective data. If certain thresholds are exceeded, decisions to repair, strengthen, or whatever is necessary can be taken ”.

security

Steven Kramer, professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering, expert in earthquake damage, said Bugle that “the safety of buildings it depends on their age, its details and its particular characteristics, all different from each other. It may also depend on the soil and foundation conditions in the individual buildings, which will also be different. “

As to whether a collapse like Champlain’s could happen again, he said, “Yes, it certainly could and buildings with similar ages, locations and structural systems should be assessed. This defect must be studied very carefully by structural and geotechnical engineers, both to understand what happened and for the litigation that will certainly ensue. These studies will determine the extent to which other buildings may be exposed to similar risks. “

– Should there be a reformulation of building codes?

-Yes, but building codes are continually being reformulated as engineers learn more from research and observations of actual performance. In seismically active areas, building codes reflect lessons learned major earthquakes. In a case like this, we’ll likely see the inspection requirements for potentially vulnerable buildings on a shorter timescale than where building codes are typically updated.

Dawn Lehman, professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Washington and expert in structures, pointed out Bugle that “construction failures in this country they are very rare. I have spent years studying buildings that collapsed after earthquakes in Taiwan, Chile, and New Zealand. And discovering the failure or collapse of the building is very complicated. A thorough investigation requires a combination of drawings, validated non-linear analyzes, floor reports, other reports and a review of the damage to the building ”.

The expert points out that in general the failures of a construction can be sealing problems, poor quality of materials, corrosion, overloads, soil problems, among others. And usually there is more than one.

-So, could this happen again?

– From what we have seen historically, it could happen, but it would be something strange. I have a good friend who lives near Champlain and I told her to tell her children that it’s weird and calm, which shouldn’t scare your boys into entering the building.

PB