Building Collapse - Mumbai

[dik]

...from the BBC, "At least 40 people have died, including 11 children, after a building under construction collapsed near the Indian city of Mumbai, police say.

Dozens have been injured and many others are feared trapped beneath the seven-storey building in Thane.

Police said the block was an illegal construction and building work was going on even though four floors were already occupied."

Dik

 

[concretemasonry]

The local police are not qualified to determine what is legal as far a building system The problem comes from the lack of control in India. For decades, almost all residential construction in India is and has been loadbearing block or cast-in-place columns with block or clay brick infill. Generally both interior and exterior walls are bearing and spans are short.

The classic residential building types are ground plus 3 or 4 and 7 story. I have not read exactly what the building height was, it must have been a 7 story because people were living in it. In longer duration projects, it is common for workers (and families) live in a building under construction because of the dire need need for housing, transportation problems and rewarding good workers.

It may have been a case where the very successful 3 or 4 story plans were just copied it for a 7 story without any real engineering.

Land disputes are common there and frequently, building is started and occupied to force a decision or to get the building sold. In Turkey, it is referred to a "Midnight Construction" because or the hours worked.

It is an interesting place to study design and construction.

Dick

Engineer and international traveler interested in construction techniques, problems and proper design.

 

[dik]

From Winnipeg Free Press, "MUMBAI, India - The death toll in the collapse of a residential building being constructed illegally in India's financial capital rose to 72 Saturday amid diminishing hopes of finding any survivors alive, police said.

Another 70 people were injured when the eight-story building on forest land in the Mumbai suburb of Thane caved in into a mound of steel and concrete Thursday evening, police said.

Thirty-six of the injured were still in city hospitals and the rest discharged after medical treatment, said Sandeep Malvi, a spokesman for the local municipal corporation.

Most bodies have been recovered, but some people might still be trapped in the debris, said Malvi. He expected the rescue operation to be completed later Saturday."