Now just imagine if you own the new apartments in those buildings next to the one that collapsed over the weekend. Look at the uprooted foundations, they did not really pile that deep, did they?!!
A 13-storey residential building under construction in Shanghai collapsed on Saturday, killing one worker and highlighting the dangers of shoddy building in fast-urbanising China.
The building, in the outskirts of the city, collapsed at around 6 a.m. (2200 GMT), with one construction worker killed, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The building was located at the suburban Lotus Riverside complex.
The block of high-rise residential flats was shown toppled onto its side in a muddy construction site. Exposed pilings stood in the remains of the building's foundations.
It appeared to be almost complete with fitted windows and a finished, tiled facade. Other similar-looking blocks in the same property development were still standing nearby.
Shoddy construction and the use of sub-standard materials is a concern in China's construction sector as the country scrambles to build out cities and finish massive infrastructure projects to keep pace with fast economic growth.
Shanghai authorities are holding nine people in an investigation into the collapse of a nearly finished 13-story apartment building, the government said Monday after the latest in a string of accidents that have plagued the country's construction boom.
Collapsing bridges, highways and buildings in China have often been linked to endemic corruption, as officials and contractors skimp on construction materials or issue approvals without proper inspections. Such problems are more common in rural areas and inland provinces than in major cities like Shanghai, where controls usually are more rigorously enforced.
To be fair, the building was under construction and thus unoccupied, but it's still a minor miracle that there was only one fatality. Sounds like there was a problem with some nearby flood prevention walls at the Dianpu River, but there's no hard evidence as to why this huge building simply fell over.
Sigh... why look at China... we have our own mess, don't we!!??
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