Collapsing Buildings and Roadways

[Starr DiGiacomo]

Highway collapse, Jingdong, China, 03.11.25

Building Collapse in Manchester, UK

October 17, 2025, a playground collapsed at Zijiang School in Shaoyang City, Hunan Province, fortunately no casualties were reported. The Zijiang School playground collapse emergency response headquarters announced on Saturday that they have begun an investigation to the cause.

The emergency response headquarters confirmed that the west wall and some playgrounds of the campus of the school collapsed, and the corners of the west side of the Boxue Building (teaching building) were damaged.

ZETATALK: THE STRETCH ZONE, THAT SINKING FEELING

ZetaTalk explores the concept of Earth's "stretch zones"—regions where tectonic plates are being pulled apart due to planetary forces, particularly in anticipation of a predicted pole shift. It focuses heavily on the eastern seaboard of the U.S., the Caribbean, and parts of Europe, warning that these areas will experience significant land subsidence due to the widening of the Atlantic Rift.

Key points include:

• Historical evidence of submerged forests and civilizations off the U.S. East Coast and Bermuda.

• Predictions that areas like Florida, Georgia, and the UK will lose elevation and be permanently flooded.

• A detailed catalog of sinkholes, train derailments, infrastructure collapses, and mysterious odors from 2004–2005, interpreted as signs of Earth stretching.

• The concept of “imploding cities”, where underground infrastructure fails due to shifting rock layers.

• Warnings to relocate from vulnerable coastal and low-lying areas before the pole shift occurs.

More: https://www.zetatalk.com/index/blog1010.htm

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://mywebtimes.com/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=448670

Ceiling collapses over pool at Holiday Inn Express

Share4

01/16/2012, 9:46 pm

The interior ceiling over a swimming pool and Jacuzzi area inside an Ottawa hotel collapsed Monday afternoon.

Ottawa firefighters raced to Holiday Inn Express, 120 W. Stevenson Road, at 2:06 p.m. and quickly assessed, with the assistance of hotel management, that no one was in the pool or hot tub at the time of the incident.

The cause of the collapse is still under investigation.

At the scene, fire chief Jeff Newbury told The Times the ceiling fell in across the entire length of the room causing "significant" damage. A pipe in the building's sprinkler system was broken in the incident and water to the entire building was shut off for a time.

No injuries were reported.

Without an operating sprinkler system, the hotel was immediately closed to guests for safety concerns.

Newbury said he or the city's building inspector would have to examine the hotel after staff members put the sprinkler system back into proper service later in the day to allow the business to reopen.

The building is owned by the Interstate Hotel Group in Downers Grove and is managed locally by Janko Hospitality.

Andy Bridwell, vice president of hotel operations, arrived quickly on the scene to inspect the damage.

"It was fortunate that no one was in the pool area at the time of the incident and we have already begun to make arrangements to begin repairs," said Bridwell.

Bridwell added overnight guests were being directly to the other hotels near Interstate 80 managed by Janko Hospitality until Holiday Inn Express reopens.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=135852

16 killed in roof collapse, suffocation, road accident

Our Correspondent

Gujranwala/Gujrat/Swat—At least three persons were killed and another injured when roof of house caved in here early Monday morning. According to rescue sources, roof of dilapidated mud and stone made house located in Nursery Chowk locality suddenly came down on early Monday. As a result of roof collapse three people died on the spot while another sustained injuries. The locals in assistance with the rescue personnel dug out the bodies and injured from the rubble and shifted them to hospital.

The rescue personnel said that the house was in poor condition and needed repair but due to poor economic position, the owner was not able to repair or reconstruct it which resulted in the tragedy. Meanwhile it is reported from Gujrat that at least four persons of a family died of suffocation due to leakage of gas here late Sunday night. According to rescue sources, a family residing in Doulat Nagar of Gujrat had left gas heater turned on to keep them warm. At late night the heater turned off as supply was suspended due to low pressure.

Later after restoration of supply, leakage from heater continued and gas filled in the room. Resultantly all the four people sleeping in the room died of the suffocation. The neighbours and relatives on Monday morning after knowing about the incident, broke open the door of the house and shifted the bodies to hospital for postmortem. While it is reported from Swat that at least six persons were killed including three children and 23 other injured as a Karachi bound passenger bus fell into a deep ravine at Daddharra in tehsil Matta on Monday.

The personnel of the security forces, police and local people retrieved the dead bodies and injured from the debris of the bus and shifted them to Saidu Sharif Hospital. The ill-fated passenger bus registration No. LZJ 7301 left Matta for Karachi, however, when it reached Daddharra, it went out of control of the driver while negotiating a deep turn and skidded off mountain, killing six passengers including children and women and injuring 23 others. Those died in the accident were identified as Zahid Iqbal, Hakim Khan, minor girls Qandeel, Faryal, Zainab Jehan while names of the two dead could not be ascertained. Bus driver Khaista Mir injured in the accident. It is reported from Sargodha that a man was gunned down when he refused to give money in the imit of Midh Ranjha police on Monday.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/mostpopular/30226862/detail.html

Ceiling Collapses At O'Neill Building

Fire Officials: Broken Pipe Caused Water Leak

UPDATED: 7:21 am EST January 17, 2012

Jim Lokay/WCVB

BOSTON -- Access to the Thomas P. O'Neill Federal Building is partially restricted this morning after a ceiling collapse.Fire crews said a pipe burst triggered the collapse of a 60-by-20 foot section near the main entrance to the building on Causeway Street. No one was injured.Overnight, workers removed the fallen sections, but closed off sidewalk access and half of the entrances as a safety precaution.Authorities reported seeing a water leak in the lobby around 8 p.m., and shut off service to the building. The closure happened shortly before the conclusion of last night's Celtics/Thunder game at the TD Garden next door, resulting in thousands of fans being diverted away from the area.People who work in the building tell NewsCenter 5 they were not notified of any problems related to the break.There are no estimates on how much it will cost to repair the damage.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

Four Injured After Washington County Structure Collapses

http://www.kbtx.com/home/headlines/Home_Collapses_in_Washington_Cou...

Four workers were injured when part of the structure they were building collapsed under them near Brenham.

The accident happened about 2:30 Monday afternoon in the 8900 Block of FM 389

Washington County Sheriff J.W. Jancowski said two people were taken to St. Joseph in Bryan. They are listed in critical condition. The two others were taken to the Brenham Hospital for treatment.

Jancowski says high winds in the area at the time may have caused one of he workers to lose his balance and grabbed on to the rafters. That force then caused the top of the building to collapse sending the four men to the ground.

A wind advisory has been issued for Washington County where winds gusts up to 45 miles per hour are possible.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

Slab collapses in Saraspur, 22 injured and one killed in the incident

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Slab-collapses-in...

TNN | Jan 17, 2012, 03.34AM

HMEDABAD: One woman died and 22 others were injured when a building's slab collapsed in Saraspur on Monday evening. The incident took place during the burial of a religious leader of Dawoodi Bohra community in Saraspur. Police officials said that the injured were rushed to Shardaben Hospital and V S Hospital soon after the incident.

According to Shaherkotda police officials, the incident took place at 5.15 pm at Musafirkhana of the community near the cemetery. Sajjad Hira, a community leader, told TOI, "Our religious leader Saiyedna's son Hujaifa, 65, died of a heart attack on a visit to Saraspur Roza. His last rites were conducted at a cemetery in Saraspur. During his funeral procession, devotees wanted to have a last look at his mortal remains and had gathered in large numbers at Musafirkhana building," he said.

Soon several were climbing up the three-storey building's terrace to have a better look. During the commotion, the slab gave away and fell on the second floor balcony which also had people watching the burial.

"Fortunately, it did not collapse entirely. Hence people on second floor balcony did not suffer grievous injuries. A total of 22 persons, including 13 women and nine men were reported injured. Four have been sent to V S Hospital for treatment, remaining were admitted to Shardaben Hospital," said K K Parmar, inspector of Shaherkotda police station.

An elderly woman was reported dead in the incident. However, Parmar said they have not yet received official confirmation of the death. "Primarily we believe that it was overcrowding that caused the mishap. However, we have got samples of the structure to assess whether weak construction might have caused the incident," said Parmar.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=218741

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Metropolitan

A portion of Circuit House Road at the capital's Ramna caved in when the pilings at an adjacent construction site collapsed yesterday, causing panic among the residents of surrounding buildings especially the highrises. Photo: Rashed Shumon Staff Correspondent

A portion of Circuit House road in the city collapsed into a 33-foot foundation ditch yesterday morning when underground piling work on the site of an under-construction nearby building caved in.

Several cracks developed on the road opposite the office of the deputy commissioner (traffic south) at around 8:00am while an excavator was digging out mud for the foundation work of the 10-storey building on plot no 5.

Two hours after the digging began, the concrete pillars of the road protection piling collapsed on the excavator, burying it under mud and debris from the collapsed four-foot of the 24-foot wide road.

The operator of the excavator, however, managed to save himself.

No casualty has been reported. But local people living in nearby high-rises buildings went into a state of panic.

Sheikh Abdul Mannan, member planning of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk), said a total of 33-foot of earth was dug up for the foundation work while pillars were set under 51-foot of piling which was not adequate for such a high-rise structure.

The owner of the under-construction building, Monzurur Rahman, obtained approval from Rajuk on July 25 last year, said another official of Rajuk. But he did not inform Rajuk about site inspection before starting construction work, mandatory even after such approval is granted.

Though there is a rule about informing Rajuk of construction work 15 days before it commences, in this case the owner did not inform the building authorities, said Khalekuzzaman Chowdhury, authorised officer-4 of Rajuk.

"We could not reach the owner till 6:00pm as his mobile set was switched off," he said.

All the workers fled the site immediately after the accident. Neither the owner nor his family members were to be seen when this correspondent visited the site at noon.

A visit to the area in the afternoon revealed that more cracks had developed in the middle of the remaining portion of the road, which construction experts say could make other big structures nearby vulnerable.

“The buildings around the accident site could be at risk if proper measures are not taken,” said a former chief engineer of Rajuk seeking anonymity.

The decades old two-storey building is just 10-foot away from the nearest cracks in the middle of Circuit House road and remains at most risk, he said.

Police blocked off the road just after the incident and had to wait for six hours for the crisis management team of Rajuk to arrive on the scene.

As there was no crisis management unit of Rajuk, they had to depend and wait for the help of the army to take measures to stop a further collapse, said a Rajuk official.

Later, a team of army engineering corps reached the spot at around 2:45pm and started working to protect it from further collapse

[Starr DiGiacomo]

2 dead after five-story building collapses in Beirut
January 15, 2012 06:02 PM (Last updated: January 15, 2012 09:11 PM)
The Daily Star

http://maps.google.com/maps?z=5&q=BEIRUT&hl=en

BEIRUT: Two people died Sunday, including a 15-year-old girl, after a five-story building collapsed in the Fassouh neighborhood in the Ashrafieh district of Beirut Sunday.

Ann-Marie Abdel Karim was pronounced dead upon arrival at al-Roum Hospital.

More than 10 others were pulled out alive from under the rubble. At least 40 people are still believed to be trapped underneath the building.

Civil Defense personnel, the Red Cross and the Lebanese Army arrived at the scene to help rescue residents.

Army officials at the scene are asking people to evacuate the area, warning that some buildings might also collapse, while Civil Defense has brought heavy machinery and bulldozers in a bid to remove the rubble and rescue trapped residents.

Around two dozen people are on top of the rubble looking for trapped residents, while Red Cross personnel have surrounded the collapsed building attending to those rescued.

Some people have been seen coming out of the rubble bloodied.

Health Minister Ali Hasan Khalil, who arrived at the scene hours after the building collapsed, described the incident as a humanitarian disaster and urged officials to help prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.

“This is a humanitarian disaster ... [we] should work on preventing any repetition of such an incident,” Khalil told reporters.

Beirut MPs along with Interior Minister Marwan Charbel have arrived to the scene of the rubble including lawmaker Jean Oghassapian who said there were voices being heard under the rubble asking for help.

Security officials have asked people to remain quiet in order to hear those calling for help from underneath.

Charbel told reporters that more help would arrive to assist in the evacuation process.

“There is more help coming to the area to assist in the evacuation process and pull people still trapped under the rubble,” Charbel said.

Among the 10 rescued, two women, a Filipino and Lebanese, were transported to a hospital nearby after being pulled from the rubble. Three hospitals in Ashrafieh have announced their readiness to accept injured people.

The Lebanese woman said her family was still under the rubble, adding that the building was old and in a bad condition, security sources said.

A Red Cross spokesperson said that ambulances have headed to the building and that no clear information regarding the number of people trapped under the rubble was available.

“The ambulances belonging to the Red Cross have arrived at the scene and we are now working to remove people from under the rubble,” Iyad Munzir, a spokesperson for the Lebanese Red Cross, told The Daily Star.

“We don’t have any clear information on the crisis,” he added.

Bystander Nicolas Abourjeily told The Daily Star that he had heard a big crash a block away from his building in Ashrafieh around 6 p.m.

“I saw a cloud of dust covering the area and saw some people coming up who were severely injured,” Abourjeily, 20, said.

The apartment block is known to be in an area of mainly old buildings. It included 10 apartments each with a monthly rent of LL25,000.

The rescued woman, who said she was from Al Abdel Karim family, also said that the weeklong rain storm which hit the capital may have contributed to the collapse of the building.

The Lebanese Army has blocked roads leading to the scene.

Read more:

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1685...

One killed, eight injured as building collapses in Beirut

Jan 15, 2012, 17:18 GMT

Beirut - An old residential building collapsed in the Beirut neighborhood of Ashrafieh on Sunday, killing a 15-year-old and injuring eight people, police said.

The five-storey building, erected in the 1960s, collapsed because of cracks caused by three days of bad weather conditions, according to Lebanese MTV Television.

Rescue operations were launched by the Red Cross and Civil Defence officials, while security forces cordoned off the area

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/alert-residents-prevent-disaster/220866-...

Alert residents prevent disaster

TIRUPATHI: A threestoried building in Singalagunta area in the town collapsed on Friday, reportedly due to weak foundation. However, no casualties or injuries were reported as the alert residents had escaped in time when they noticed widening cracks in the walls. According to sources, the building was constructed in 1985 but the owner Venkatesh Achary added two more floors later. However when residents noticed wide cracks appearing, they removed all the gas cylinders and also saw that the power to the building was disconnected, before running to safety. Thus, no one was injured when the building collapsed and damage was limited to furniture. Police and revenue officials rushed to the spot when they came to know of the incident. DSP K Kesappa said that a weak foundation was the reason for the collapse. "We are taking steps to clear the debris," he said. Municipal commissioner T Prasad, who visited the spot, said that the building was an unauthorized construction and was built over a nala.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/13/brooklyn-billboard-top...

January 13, 2012, 6:39 pm

Brooklyn Billboard Topples Onto Expressway

Brian Harkin for The New York TimesA billboard and its metal framework lay in wreckage along Meeker Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on Friday after it blew over in high winds.

An illegally placed New York Lottery billboard brought bad luck to drivers and a building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on Friday when it collapsed in high winds — partly blocking the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, knocking a hole in a body shop, severing a gas line and damaging a car, but injuring no one.

The billboard, 20 feet by 60 feet and mounted on a six-story-high metal frame atop a one-story brick building at 421 Meeker Avenue, fell at about 2:20 p.m., the authorities said. The billboard fell onto Meeker Avenue and onto a lane of the elevated expressway. The metal supports fell onto the building itself, partly collapsing the back wall, the Fire Department said. At least two other buildings sustained damage, the Buildings Department said.

The billboard was illegal, the department said, because it was within 200 feet of a highway, which is prohibited by zoning rules. The city’s highways have been plagued with illegal billboards, though the Buildings Department began cracking down on them in 2009.

Theresa Capolino, 70, a school aide who has lived in the neighborhood her whole life and at 411 Meeker Avenue since 1994, said the billboard went up around 2000.

Ms. Capolino, unlike those more directly affected by the collapse, said she felt lucky to have avoided calamity and decided to seize the moment.

“I play the lottery. The Mega Millions and the Take 5,” she said. “I’m going now to play. I will play these numbers, 411.” She gestured to the street number above the door of her building. “Maybe I’ll hit.”