Building Collapse in Miami

 

How does this happen in the United States of America?

A 12-story oceanfront condo tower partially collapsed early Thursday morning in the town of Surfside, spurring a massive search-and-rescue effort with dozens of rescue crews from across Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

Reinforced concrete should not fail this way. Clearly, something was not done right, either when it was built, or to maintain it.

I fear there is more of this in our future, as the left continues is march through everything as it destroys all standards.

Prayers for these people and their families.

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  1. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    A pedestrian walkway collapsed in the DC area yesterday.

    • #1
  2. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Kozak (View Comment):

    A pedestrian walkway collapsed in the DC area yesterday.

    Can’t like. This is the future. Corrupt systems that cannot maintain basic needs. Excuses made by the elite, but nothing gets fixed or improved. 

    • #2
  3. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

     

     

     

     

    • #3
  4. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

     

     

     

     

    thanks for the update

    • #4
  5. ctlaw Coolidge
    ctlaw
    @ctlaw

    Surveillance video:

     

    • #5
  6. Weeping Inactive
    Weeping
    @Weeping

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Kozak (View Comment):

    A pedestrian walkway collapsed in the DC area yesterday.

    Can’t like. This is the future. Corrupt systems that cannot maintain basic needs. Excuses made by the elite, but nothing gets fixed or improved.

    And Texans have received pleas to raise their thermostats and help conserve energy because the energy grid might collapse otherwise. And we’re only in June. The worst is yet to come temperature-wise.

    So my question is: Taxpayers are paying to keep things like this from happening (energy grids, bridges, buildings, walkways, etc from collapsing). That’s not being done, apparently. So where is the money going?

    • #6
  7. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Weeping (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Kozak (View Comment):

    A pedestrian walkway collapsed in the DC area yesterday.

    Can’t like. This is the future. Corrupt systems that cannot maintain basic needs. Excuses made by the elite, but nothing gets fixed or improved.

    And Texans have received pleas to raise their thermostats and help conserve energy because the energy grid might collapse otherwise. And we’re only in June. The worst is yet to come temperature-wise.

    So my question is: Taxpayers are paying to keep things like this from happening (energy grids, bridges, buildings, walkways, etc from collapsing). That’s not being done, apparently. So where is the money going?

    Every institution is corrupt. They are full of people not interested in the mission of the institution, just themselves.

    Turning and turning in the widening gyre
    The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
    Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
    The best lack all conviction, while the worst
    Are full of passionate intensity.

    • #7
  8. Seawriter Contributor
    Seawriter
    @Seawriter

    This poem was written for the Canadian Iron Ring ceremony, used to impress engineering graduates with the seriousness of engineering, and the responsibility that goes with being an engineer.

    Hymn of Breaking Strain

    by Rudyard Kipling

    THE careful text-books measure
    (Let all who build beware!)
    The load, the shock, the pressure
    Material can bear.
    So, when the buckled girder
    Lets down the grinding span,
    ‘The blame of loss, or murder,
    Is laid upon the man.
    Not on the Stuff—the Man!

    But in our daily dealing
    With stone and steel, we find
    The Gods have no such feeling
    Of justice toward mankind.
    To no set gauge they make us—
    For no laid course prepare—
    And presently o’ertake us
    With loads we cannot bear:
    Too merciless to bear.

    The prudent text-books give it
    In tables at the end
    ‘The stress that shears a rivet
    Or makes a tie-bar bend—
    ‘What traffic wrecks macadam—
    What concrete should endure—
    but we, poor Sons of Adam
    Have no such literature,
    To warn us or make sure!

    We hold all Earth to plunder—
    All Time and Space as well—
    Too wonder-stale to wonder
    At each new miracle;
    Till, in the mid-illusion
    Of Godhead ‘neath our hand,
    Falls multiple confusion
    On all we did or planned—
     The mighty works we planned.

    We only of Creation
    (0h, luckier bridge and rail)
    Abide the twin damnation—
    To fail and know we fail.
    Yet we – by which sole token
    We know we once were Gods—
    Take shame in being broken
    However great the odds—
    The burden or the Odds.

    Oh, veiled and secret Power
    Whose paths we seek in vain,
    Be with us in our hour
    Of overthrow and pain;
    That we – by which sure token
    We know Thy ways are true—
    In spite of being broken,
    Because of being broken
    May rise and build anew
    Stand up and build anew

    • #8
  9. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Wish I knew the magic to format lines on top of each other. I know how to do it in word, and in doku, but not here. 

    • #9
  10. Seawriter Contributor
    Seawriter
    @Seawriter

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Wish I knew the magic to format lines on top of each other. I know how to do it in word, and in doku, but not here.

    Without spacing between lines
    Like this?

    Hold shift down when you hit enter.

    • #10
  11. DonG (2+2=5. Say it!) Coolidge
    DonG (2+2=5. Say it!)
    @DonG

    My first thought is subsidence.   Miami (and Florida in general) is sinking.

     

    • #11
  12. Raxxalan Member
    Raxxalan
    @Raxxalan

    Weeping (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Kozak (View Comment):

    A pedestrian walkway collapsed in the DC area yesterday.

    Can’t like. This is the future. Corrupt systems that cannot maintain basic needs. Excuses made by the elite, but nothing gets fixed or improved.

    And Texans have received pleas to raise their thermostats and help conserve energy because the energy grid might collapse otherwise. And we’re only in June. The worst is yet to come temperature-wise.

    So my question is: Taxpayers are paying to keep things like this from happening (energy grids, bridges, buildings, walkways, etc from collapsing). That’s not being done, apparently. So where is the money going?

    CRT training, Gender transition surgery for the military, Teachers Unions, and if HR1/SB1 had passed to fund democratic political campaigns.  

    • #12
  13. Instugator Thatcher
    Instugator
    @Instugator

    Seawriter (View Comment):

    This poem was written for the Canadian Iron Ring ceremony, used to impress engineering graduates with the seriousness of engineering, and the responsibility that goes with being an engineer.

    Hymn of Breaking Strain

    by Rudyard Kipling

    I am of the belief that Kipling is a sort of universal educator – there is no subject that he can’t steer you to the correct course of action.

    • #13
  14. Instugator Thatcher
    Instugator
    @Instugator

    DonG (2+2=5. Say it!) (View Comment):

    My first thought is subsidence. Miami (and Florida in general) is sinking.

     

    Although it could be explained by the judicial use of the F-15E. Kind of like an exclamation point to pResident Biden’s words.

    • #14
  15. Annefy Member
    Annefy
    @Annefy

    ctlaw (View Comment):

    Surveillance video:

     

    That video is horrifying and much worse than I imagined.

    God forgive me, the first thing I thought was: diversity hires in design, or construction, or material suppliers, or inspectors. Or in all of them.

    I watched a video within the last year or two with Douglas Murray. And he said something like we’ve put up with a lot with the assumption that they’d stop when it came to bridges. I was reminded of a bridge (walkway?) that collapsed a few years ago. The website of the construction company touted their women hires.

    • #15
  16. CACrabtree Coolidge
    CACrabtree
    @CACrabtree

    Annefy (View Comment):

    ctlaw (View Comment):

    Surveillance video:

     

     

    That video is horrifying and much worse than I imagined.

    God forgive me, the first thing I thought was: diversity hires in design, or construction, or material suppliers, or inspectors. Or in all of them.

    I watched a video within the last year or two with Douglas Murray. And he said something like we’ve put up with a lot with the assumption that they’d stop when it came to bridges. I was reminded of a bridge (walkway?) that collapsed a few years ago. The website of the construction company touted their women hires.

    Maybe the architect was using that “new math”; the one in which there is “more than one correct answer” to a problem.  In this case, the architect used the “less correct” answer…

    • #16
  17. Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… Member
    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio…
    @ArizonaPatriot

    This building collapse is a tragedy.

    According to this report from the Miami Herald, the building was a 12-story, 130-unit condo completed in 1981.  There were 55 units in the portion that collapsed.  The collapse occurred at around 1:30 am.

    I am perplexed about the assignment of blame for this, both in the OP and in the comments.  I don’t think that anyone yet knows the cause of the collapse.  Why would anyone jump to a conclusion about the cause, less than 12 hours after this terrible event?

    • #17
  18. Doctor Robert Member
    Doctor Robert
    @DoctorRobert

    Maybe the building was badly designed, or overloaded, or built with seawater in the cement, or there was erosion and loss of soil integrity.  It’s a little soon to blame the Gummint, as much as I would love to do so, or diversity hires.

    • #18
  19. W Bob Member
    W Bob
    @WBob

    They keep saying there’s only one confirmed death. At first I thought it was just the front of the building that fell off but it was an entire section of the complex, an entire building essentially. The casualties are going to be huge.

    • #19
  20. Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… Member
    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio…
    @ArizonaPatriot

    W Bob (View Comment):

    They keep saying there’s only one confirmed death. At first I thought it was just the front of the building that fell off but it was an entire section of the complex, an entire building essentially. The casualties are going to be huge.

    Yeah, I think that you’re right.  You can find a video of the collapse online, and it’s just awful.  A very large part of the building collapsed.

    My general recollection, from prior incidents, is that there are occasionally survivors of such an event, and their survival seems just miraculous.  So I don’t think that we should give up hope.  But I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the ultimate death toll is in the 50-100 range, perhaps even a bit higher.

    • #20
  21. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    This building collapse is a tragedy.

    According to this report from the Miami Herald, the building was a 12-story, 130-unit condo completed in 1981. There were 55 units in the portion that collapsed. The collapse occurred at around 1:30 am.

    I am perplexed about the assignment of blame for this, both in the OP and in the comments. I don’t think that anyone yet knows the cause of the collapse. Why would anyone jump to a conclusion about the cause, less than 12 hours after this terrible event?

    It is not jumping to conclusions about the cause to say it should not have happened. All I said was that buildings should not fail like this. Something was not done correctly. That includes failing to detect a sinkhole in a city full of sink holes. 

    • #21
  22. Raxxalan Member
    Raxxalan
    @Raxxalan

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    This building collapse is a tragedy.

    According to this report from the Miami Herald, the building was a 12-story, 130-unit condo completed in 1981. There were 55 units in the portion that collapsed. The collapse occurred at around 1:30 am.

    I am perplexed about the assignment of blame for this, both in the OP and in the comments. I don’t think that anyone yet knows the cause of the collapse. Why would anyone jump to a conclusion about the cause, less than 12 hours after this terrible event?

    I didn’t necessarily take it that way.  I took it as the government takes an awful lot of money but doesn’t use for what we should expect our government to spend that money on.  It is quite possible, maybe even likely, that this is a tragic natural occurrence that couldn’t be stopped or foreseen.  Remember this government claims to be able to do everything from stopping unnecessary death, controlling the weather, eliminating poverty and want, and perfect the souls of mankind.   If you make those kinds of claims you should expect to be blamed for every misfortune that befalls mankind.

    • #22
  23. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

     

     

     

     

    A sinkhole was the first thing that I thought of.

    • #23
  24. Annefy Member
    Annefy
    @Annefy

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    This building collapse is a tragedy.

    According to this report from the Miami Herald, the building was a 12-story, 130-unit condo completed in 1981. There were 55 units in the portion that collapsed. The collapse occurred at around 1:30 am.

    I am perplexed about the assignment of blame for this, both in the OP and in the comments. I don’t think that anyone yet knows the cause of the collapse. Why would anyone jump to a conclusion about the cause, less than 12 hours after this terrible event?

    Well – someone is to blame. It wasn’t an asteroid. We live in a first world country and a building collapsed. 

    As for me, while I’m not assigning blame, I simply confessed where my mind went. And I’ll love to be wrong. 

    • #24
  25. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Raxxalan (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    This building collapse is a tragedy.

    According to this report from the Miami Herald, the building was a 12-story, 130-unit condo completed in 1981. There were 55 units in the portion that collapsed. The collapse occurred at around 1:30 am.

    I am perplexed about the assignment of blame for this, both in the OP and in the comments. I don’t think that anyone yet knows the cause of the collapse. Why would anyone jump to a conclusion about the cause, less than 12 hours after this terrible event?

    I didn’t necessarily take it that way. I took it as the government takes an awful lot of money but doesn’t use for what we should expect our government to spend that money on. It is quite possible, maybe even likely, that this is a tragic natural occurrence that couldn’t be stopped or foreseen. Remember this government claims to be able to do everything from stopping unnecessary death, controlling the weather, eliminating poverty and want, and perfect the souls of mankind. If you make those kinds of claims you should expect to be blamed for every misfortune that befalls mankind.

    The NWS can’t predict whether it is going to rain this afternoon. 50% chance? Thanks, G.

    • #25
  26. Raxxalan Member
    Raxxalan
    @Raxxalan

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    This building collapse is a tragedy.

    According to this report from the Miami Herald, the building was a 12-story, 130-unit condo completed in 1981. There were 55 units in the portion that collapsed. The collapse occurred at around 1:30 am.

    I am perplexed about the assignment of blame for this, both in the OP and in the comments. I don’t think that anyone yet knows the cause of the collapse. Why would anyone jump to a conclusion about the cause, less than 12 hours after this terrible event?

    It is not jumping to conclusions about the cause to say it should not have happened. All I said was that buildings should not fail like this. Something was not done correctly. That includes failing to detect a sinkhole in a city full of sink holes.

    .

    It is possible that at the time that it was built there wasn’t one to be detected.  It would be interesting to know what else was going on around there in terms of construction.  In Amsterdam when they put in a subway system it broke and displaced a bunch of pylons in the neighboring buildings causing much the same thing.   I think in Chicago Some work on a canal breached an old tunnel causing flooding and a draining of part of the canal.  Sometimes the problem isn’t with the structure as it was designed but with the unforeseen complications from other things.

    • #26
  27. Raxxalan Member
    Raxxalan
    @Raxxalan

    Percival (View Comment):

    Raxxalan (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    This building collapse is a tragedy.

    According to this report from the Miami Herald, the building was a 12-story, 130-unit condo completed in 1981. There were 55 units in the portion that collapsed. The collapse occurred at around 1:30 am.

    I am perplexed about the assignment of blame for this, both in the OP and in the comments. I don’t think that anyone yet knows the cause of the collapse. Why would anyone jump to a conclusion about the cause, less than 12 hours after this terrible event?

    I didn’t necessarily take it that way. I took it as the government takes an awful lot of money but doesn’t use for what we should expect our government to spend that money on. It is quite possible, maybe even likely, that this is a tragic natural occurrence that couldn’t be stopped or foreseen. Remember this government claims to be able to do everything from stopping unnecessary death, controlling the weather, eliminating poverty and want, and perfect the souls of mankind. If you make those kinds of claims you should expect to be blamed for every misfortune that befalls mankind.

    The NWS can’t predict whether it is going to rain this afternoon. 50% chance? Thanks, G.

    @percival But somehow they can predict the temperature 30 years into the future.

    • #27
  28. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Raxxalan (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    This building collapse is a tragedy.

    According to this report from the Miami Herald, the building was a 12-story, 130-unit condo completed in 1981. There were 55 units in the portion that collapsed. The collapse occurred at around 1:30 am.

    I am perplexed about the assignment of blame for this, both in the OP and in the comments. I don’t think that anyone yet knows the cause of the collapse. Why would anyone jump to a conclusion about the cause, less than 12 hours after this terrible event?

    It is not jumping to conclusions about the cause to say it should not have happened. All I said was that buildings should not fail like this. Something was not done correctly. That includes failing to detect a sinkhole in a city full of sink holes.

    .

    It is possible that at the time that it was built there wasn’t one to be detected. It would be interesting to know what else was going on around there in terms of construction. In Amsterdam when they put in a subway system it broke and displaced a bunch of pylons in the neighboring buildings causing much the same thing. I think in Chicago Some work on a canal breached an old tunnel causing flooding and a draining of part of the canal. Sometimes the problem isn’t with the structure as it was designed but with the unforeseen complications from other things.

    There are at least a couple of very notorious examples like this in San Francisco. We are talking staggering dollars.

    • #28
  29. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Percival (View Comment):

    Raxxalan (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    This building collapse is a tragedy.

    According to this report from the Miami Herald, the building was a 12-story, 130-unit condo completed in 1981. There were 55 units in the portion that collapsed. The collapse occurred at around 1:30 am.

    I am perplexed about the assignment of blame for this, both in the OP and in the comments. I don’t think that anyone yet knows the cause of the collapse. Why would anyone jump to a conclusion about the cause, less than 12 hours after this terrible event?

    I didn’t necessarily take it that way. I took it as the government takes an awful lot of money but doesn’t use for what we should expect our government to spend that money on. It is quite possible, maybe even likely, that this is a tragic natural occurrence that couldn’t be stopped or foreseen. Remember this government claims to be able to do everything from stopping unnecessary death, controlling the weather, eliminating poverty and want, and perfect the souls of mankind. If you make those kinds of claims you should expect to be blamed for every misfortune that befalls mankind.

    The NWS can’t predict whether it is going to rain this afternoon. 50% chance? Thanks, G.

    “Public goods”only.  When the government does anything else, it adds negative value. 

    • #29
  30. Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… Member
    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio…
    @ArizonaPatriot

    I appreciate the responses, but remain unconvinced about the automatic assignment of blame to an unspecified someone.  I actually find this to be something that should be avoided.

    There is a technical legal doctrine for this argument, called res ipsa loquitur.  I won’t bore you with the details.  I don’t think that it applies in the present context.

    As an example, assume that the sinkhole hypothesis turns out to be correct.  Would this mean that someone is to blame?  If so, who?

    I have no idea whether sinkholes are common in this particular part of Florida.  If so, I don’t know how common they might be.  I don’t know what it takes to detect sinkholes.  I don’t know who is responsible for checking, as a legal matter.  Is it the city, or the landowner, or someone else?

    Even assuming assignment of this responsibility to some party, I don’t know what standard should be applied.  How often should one check for sinkholes?  Perhaps there are multiple ways to detect sinkholes.  I don’t know.  If so, what method should be used?

    Assuming that someone is responsible to check for sinkholes, and that there is an established method and timetable for doing so, I don’t know whether or not this was done.

    I strongly suspect that no one else, here at Ricochet, knows any of these things.

    I am somewhat troubled by the basic argument that I’ve seen here, which looks like some sort of safetyism.  Something bad happened, and we’re in a first world country, so someone obviously should have prevented it.  My view is maybe, maybe not.  Maybe we should wait for the facts.

    • #30
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