Monday, October 14, 2013

Last Saturday's Building Collapse in Medellin

Rain and instability have hampered construction Monday surrounding the rescue of nine missing and two found dead under the rubble of a 22-story building that collapsed on Saturday in the Colombian city of Medellin ( northwest) .
After the rescue efforts were suspended during the morning and early afternoon of Monday , authorities announced that they will be resumed but without the use of " heavy machinery " to the risk of collapse of an adjoining building which collapsed.
By mid- afternoon , the mayor in charge of Medellin , Claudia Restrepo , told reporters that the tower five affected residential complex has "two fractured columns " and " can collapse now or in a week" , without notice.
" That makes no warranties to make a rescue by lifeguards . Currently , the call is for the OS is search and rescue without heavy machinery movements ," said Restrepo , detailing actions to be followed and technical manuals , with the use of cameras and other equipment.
" Relief agencies have every intention of continuing the operation at this time ," added the mayor .
The rain , which since the early hours of Monday fell on Medellin has also complicated the rescue efforts and increased the risk of collapse of the tower .
President Juan Manuel Santos announced on his Twitter account sending " more help " to Medellin , to the difficulties faced by rescuers .
"We pending Medellin. Continue 9 missing . There are problems with personal income walkup failures . Sending more aid ," wrote the Colombian president .
For his part, the CEO of National Relief Colombian Red Cross , Cesar Uruena, told AFP that the two bodies that had been placed on Sunday under the collapsed structure could not be rescued by the "difficulty is in the process of removal of debris " and the risk posed .
" To the extent that weather conditions permit, we continue with the rescue and what you are doing now is trying to locate for all technical and technological means places where people could be missing " for review with small cameras said Urueña .
Relatives of the disappeared , who have received from the Saturday night psychological support of the Red Cross , the press had expressed concern at the possibility that the authorities decided to tear down the tower before continuing five search tasks .
However, both Urueña as Restrepo stressed that the focus now is on the search for the missing, provided they do not endanger the lives of rescuers.
This, though the authorities consider " very complicated " there are survivors still under the ruins.
The residential complex where the collapse occurred also consists of four other towers , whose structures are constantly being monitored by the authorities.
In three of these towers , the mayor reported that Restrepo advance from Monday afternoon an operation of " household recovery ."
The building collapsed at local 20H00 Saturday was newly built and located in a neighborhood of middle -high of Medellin.
After the collapse , three people were pulled alive from the rubble. Two of those rescued are in critical condition and one suffered minor injuries.
The Colombian prosecutors Monday appointed a " task force " comprised of two prosecutors and two researchers , "to determine whether there was criminal liability in the crash " of the building.
The collapsed building was evacuated on Friday after neighbors called the emergency services after detecting a crack and a group of engineers found a structural problem in a beam.
Thanks to the preventive evacuation , there is only one resident among the missing - that was in the garage of the residential complex , and the others are engineers or workers trying to repair the failure .

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