A 4,5-meter height wall collapse in Indian city of Pune (in Maharashtra state) has resulted in 15 fatalities including 2 children.
The failure occurred on Saturday, June 29, 2019. The compound wall collapsed on temporary shelters that used to accommodate workers from a nearby construction site. The wall was located in a parking lot of a high-rise building.
"The wall collapsed at around 1:30 am due to heavy rainfall in Pune. The boundary wall was built near the construction site sheds and when it collapsed. At least three sheds were complete bogged down under the wall. It collapsed at least six feet below the surface level," an official of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), stated.
Rescue operation began immediately and crews were able to save 3 people from the debris who were hospitalized.
The laborers and their families were sleeping inside the shelters when the unfortunate incident happened. Most of them where migrants from poorer Indian states and were relocated in order to assert more job opportunities.
The collapse was probably triggered by intense rainfalls that were preceded at the same day. The city received a 73 millimeters of rain, the 2nd higher precipitation of June since 2010.
The causes of the collapse are under investigation. According to recent information, the police issued an FIR (First Information Report) against 8 people including the construction supervisor, the builders and the site engineer. 2 of them have already been arrested.
Saurabh Rao, Municipal Corporation commissioner of Pune, stated that extreme rainfall affected the soils properties while excavation works near the retaining wall were being conducted "irresponsibly". Moreover, the parking lot hosted an increased amount of vehicles, a fact that deteriorated the stability of the wall. The failure was caused as a combination of all the aforementioned factors.
Sources: Reuters.com, ABCnews.com, Cnn.com
Retaining wall systems are designed and manufactured to hold earth elements like rock and/or soil....
Gravity Walls The active earth pressures on the wall are estimated according to the discussion pre...
On June 8, 2019, a large part of a road suddenly collapsed into a building construction site in sou...
The collapse of a retaining wall, blocking Baltimore's railroad network, occurred last Wednesday as...
A landslide has killed at least 63 people in the state of Kerala, southern India. The ground failur...
At least 7 people have died and 8 more were injured after a landslide and a wall collapse occurred...