Surfside collapse echoes CTV disaster in New Zealand

[ad_1]

On June 24, the Champlain Towers South condominium complex in Surfside collapsed. The death toll rose to nearly 100.

On the face of it, it seems like an isolated tragedy.

But a New York Times article recently reported that initial inspections of the rubble indicated that the apartment’s structural elements lacked adequate steel reinforcement. And that this deficiency may have contributed to its collapse.

In New Zealand, that news took us back to February 22, 2011.

During the devastating 6.2-magnitude earthquake that hit Christchurch, the Canterbury Television building collapsed, killing 115 people. It was the only building in town that failed completely.

It is important to stress that CTV and Champlain took place in different places, under different conditions, where different building regulations were applied. One collapsed during an earthquake. The other just collapsed.

However, there are inevitable similarities. Buildings collapse because basic structural elements are unable to withstand the forces placed on them, whether from an earthquake, from the weight of the building, or something else. In Christchurch and Surfside, the building elements appear to have been weaker than intended due to improper design and/or construction. This made them more vulnerable to these forces.

At CTV, a Royal Commission of Inquiry found that the central failures occurred at the design stage. The building was designed by a supervised engineer working from its depth and, as a consequence, it lacked sufficient strength. Some of the shortcomings were exacerbated during construction, but the root cause lay in the design. The Times story indicates that the problem at Surfside does not appear to follow the design.

We explained the major design flaws that led to the CTV tragedy in Stuff’s Collapse podcast, which came out in February. Since Surfside, we’ve seen a rise in listeners from the United States. You can listen here.

Police and members of the public help rescue people from the collapsed CTV building. [ DON SCOTT | Stuff Limited ]

Having worked on this podcast, and spending countless hours combing through the documentation about the tragedy here, reading the reports from America was a little scary.

Police spent four years investigating the CTV disaster. They initially considered charging the building’s architect and boss with 115 counts of manslaughter, but they backed out. Some family members of the victims continue to fight for accountability. They have been in touch with families in Florida to offer condolences but also caution about the long road ahead. Ten years later, blame-shifting, recriminations and blanket litigation over the CTV building are still making headlines in New Zealand.

Michael Wright is a reporter for the New Zealand website Stuff and a former fellow of the Tampa Bay Times.

[ad_2]