BOOM OPPS
February 28, 2014
Yesterday they imploded a building in Medellin that had suffered a partial collapse a month or so ago. If you look at the two pictures above you’ll TOP see before the implosion and BELOW after the implosion. The city and the company that did it are claiming success but Jeff points to the pictures and feels that all they succeeded in doing was creating an even more unsafe condition. Now Jeff may know a lot about explosives but he’s not a structural engineer but it’s his belief they screwed up in the interest of trying to save the rest of the building. Now there isn’t enough money in the world to make Jeff want to live in that building but Colombians are obviously of a different opinion. It was undecided as to the cause of the original collapse but from the photos and new coverage if it wasn’t geological it was from faulty concrete. Neither of those reasons seems to be what the authorities want say. If they do then someone made a mistake and other buildings could be in danger in fact they have found others in the country. Maybe they’re having the same problem those plaques large cities in America dishonest building inspectors. Another thought might be that the way buildings are built down here maybe they should limit the height to twelve stories. It could be the taller buildings can’t handle the stress of high winds. Well whatever the case may be they need to figure it out soon before a lot of people die. This is Flounder (on the tenth floor)saying CIAO from Medellin Colombia.
ALL IS NOT PERFECT
January 15, 2014
The Metro the rail line in Medellin which handles thousands of rider’s everyday has had to suspend its service to six stations due to a collapse of the river bank past Poplano. This brings up concerns for two reasons since an apartment building had recently experienced a partial collapse in the same area. My first concern is, are they doing sufficient geological studies before they build. In other words is it possible the area is geologically unsafe. My second concern is very real in that I don’t believe they do enough maintenance on their infrastructure. It appears to me especially after seeing pictures of the apartment building that they react instead of preventing problems. They seem to be surprised when part of a road gets wiped out by a landslide when things of that nature can be predicted to a certain extent. If you’ve ever visited this country you know that the roads thru the mountains while offering breathtaking scenery are dangerous to drive. Getting back to the Metro a lot of it runs alongside the river and you can see erosion of the concrete banks in many areas. Water is an extremely powerful element that you humans are constantly underestimating. Well time will tell if they improve their care of the infrastructure or if they continue to wait until something happens. Fortunately at least in Medellin there have not been a lot of deaths or injuries reported as a result of these failures. Whew that was a long post for me my paws are tired so this is Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin.
floundersgreatadventure 