# Overloading??



## cda (Apr 24, 2013)

Dead/live load

87 dead in Bangladesh garment factory collapse - San Antonio Express-News

At least 80 killed in Bangladesh building collapse - CNN.com


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## Mark K (Apr 24, 2013)

When a building collapses it is always fair to say that it was overloaded but this ignores the question of whether there was sufficient capacity in the building before the collapse to resist expected loads.


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## mark handler (Apr 24, 2013)

India has been heavily criticised for failing to regulate or tackle illegal construction


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## High Desert (Apr 24, 2013)

"Stern legal actions will be taken against the people who built the structure defying the codes or laws."

They do have a building code there. Must be pretty corrupt to be able to build an 8-story building without regulation.


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## mark handler (Apr 24, 2013)

High Desert said:
			
		

> They do have a building code there. Must be pretty corrupt to be able to build an 8-story building without regulation.


National Building Code of India

National Building Code of India 2005


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## ICE (Apr 24, 2013)

A copy of the National Building Code of India sells for $2764.00


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## Mark K (Apr 24, 2013)

Bangladesh is a seperate country.  Bangladesh is not in India.


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## mark handler (Apr 24, 2013)

Mark K said:
			
		

> Bangladesh is a separate country.  Bangladesh is not in India.


Your right I was thinking of the Mumbai building collapse

Here is the Bangladesh National Building Code

Bangladesh National Building Code


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## mark handler (Apr 24, 2013)

Mumbai Deputy Municipal Commissioner arrested in Thane building collapse case

Apr 24, 2013

With the arrest of a Deputy Municipal Commissioner of Thane Municipal Corporation on Wednesday night, the number of arrests in connection with the building collapse in Mumbra area has gone up to 22. DMC Srikant Sarmokdam, whose name was found in the diary of the builder (already arrested), was taken into custody, the police said.

A rescue worker during the Thane building collapse. PTI.

The police had deferred arresting him because of a death in his family. Sarmokdam was due to retire soon, police added. Seventy four people died when a seven-story unauthorised building in Shil-Phata area near Mumbra in the district collapsed earlier this month.

The builders had allegedly bribed the corporation officials to turn a blind eye to the construction.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/06/us-india-mumbai-collapse-idUSBRE93502220130406


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## ICE (Apr 24, 2013)

A copy of the Bangladesh National Building Code is free.....if you register your email address on a Bangladeshi government computer.....it's hard telling what might be the result of that.


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## fireguy (Apr 25, 2013)

ICE said:
			
		

> A copy of the Bangladesh National Building Code is free.....if you register your email address on a Bangladeshi government computer.....it's hard telling what might be the result of that.


You win the Bangladesh National Lottery.  The grand prize is copy of the National Building Code?


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## mark handler (Apr 27, 2013)

8 arrested after deadly Bangladesh building collapse

BUILDING OWNER ON THE RUN

By Lateef Mungin and Farid Ahmed, CNN

updated 5:28 AM EDT, Sat April 27, 2013

Report: 8 arrested after deadly Bangladesh building collapse - CNN.com

Savar, Bangladesh (CNN) -- Bangladeshi authorities arrested eight people, including two factory owners, after a building collapsed near the capital this week, killing 334 people and trapping others under concrete rubble.

Several relatives of the owners and two engineers were also arrested, the state-run news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha reported.

Amid the arrests, the death toll mounted as families of the missing hoped for a miracle.

Rescuers pulled a woman who had given birth in the mangled mess of the crumbled eight-story building, state-run news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha reported.

It was unclear Saturday how the mother and the baby were doing a day after they were rescued. But most reports coming from the fallen structure near the capital of Dhaka were of woe.

Officials coordinating the operation have said the rescue efforts would end Saturday morning and heavy equipment will retrieve the remaining bodies and cart away the rubble.

The announcement ignited protests Friday from crowds near the rescue site, many of them relatives showing pictures of the missing to whomever would pay attention.

Police used tear gas to disperse them, the news agency said.

Protests continued Saturday as large crowds took to the streets in four districts in Dhaka.

At a nearby medical college hospital, "thousands of survivors have been treated," said Sajjad Hussein, a spokesman for an anti-corruption agency.

"The crisis for blood is acute and the hospital authority is urging people to donate blood for the victims. There is also a shortage of medicine. The local military hospital is also treating patients." .

Looking for loved ones

The picture of despair was clear Friday at a nearby local school, where bodies were being kept. Hundreds amassed, many of them relatives desperately searching for loved ones.

"People with photos of their relatives, mostly workers of the apparel factories, are asking the officials there for help. Whenever an ambulance is arriving at the spot, everyone is rushing towards hoping to find at least the body of their near and dear ones," Hussein said. Nineteen people had been rescued alive, Dhaka District Police Chief Habibur Rahman said Saturday morning.

In all, more than 2,300 people had been rescued, police said.

But it may take some time until the full extent of the destruction will be known. Late Friday, relatives reported 595 people still missing, police said.

Cracks appeared a day before

The collapse occurred Wednesday morning, a day after cracks appeared in the structure. It has stirred outrage in Bangladesh over lax safety standards in the country's key industry.

Most of the victims appear to have been garment factory workers told to report to work despite their concerns that the building's structure was not sound. The cracks led the bank to order its employees not to report for work Wednesday, and the shops in the mall were closed because of a strike.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association announced Friday that all garment factories would be shut over the weekend "for treatment of victims of the Savar building collapse and completion of the rescue operation successfully."

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday ordered police to arrest the owners of the building and the factories so that they can "face legal actions," her spokesman said.

"It is not an accident, it is a killing incident," Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu told reporters. "All, including owners and administrative officials concerned, must be put on the dock for the killing of people."


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## mark handler (Apr 28, 2013)

Bangladesh nabs fugitive building owner

Owner of illegal building arrested near India border after his structure collapsed last week, killing 377 killed people.

Last Modified: 28 Apr 2013 15:22







The fugitive owner of an illegally constructed building that collapsed in a deadly heap in Bangladesh last week was captured in an alleged attempt to escape to India.

Mohammed Sohel Rana was arrested on Sunday in Benapole in western Bangladesh, just as he was about to flee into India's West Bengal state.

Rana was brought back to Dhaka by helicopter where he faced charges of negligence after an illegally constructed building he owned collapsed, killing at least 377 people.

Rana had the approval to construct five floors but he added three more illegally.

On Saturday, police took six people into custody, including three owners of two factories.

Also under detention are the wife of the building owner who is on the run and two government engineers who were involved in giving approval for the building design.

Among those arrested are Bazlus Samad, managing director of New Wave Apparels Ltd, and Mahmudur Rahman Tapash, the company chairman, and Aminul Islam, chairman of Phantom Apparels Ltd.

Rana was a local leader of ruling Awami League's youth front.

His arrest, and that of the factory owners, was ordered by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is also the Awami League leader.

News of his capture by the Rapid Action Battalion, a Bangladeshi commando force, was greeted with cheers by the crowd at the site of the building, many of whom are still holding out hope their relatives will be found.

Not 'acceptable'

Survivors were still being found on Sunday, as rescuers located nine people alive inside the wreckage of an eight-storey building that collapsed five days ago.

Authorities announced they will now use heavy equipment to drill a central hole from the top to look for survivors and dead bodies.

On Sunday, at least 377 people were confirmed dead in the collapse of the building that housed five garment factories.

The death toll is expected to rise further, but it is already the deadliest tragedy to hit Bangladesh's garment industry, which is worth $20bn annually and a mainstay of the economy.

Chowdhury Hasan Suhrawardy, the coordinator of the rescue operations and a major-general in the army, said they will try to save the nine people first by manually shifting concrete blocks with the help of light equipment such as pick axes and shovels.

"But if we fail we will start our next phase within hours", which would involve manual efforts as well as heavy equipment, including hydraulic cranes and cutters to bore a hole from the top of the collapsed building, he told reporters.

The purpose is to "continue the operation to recover both survivors and dead bodies", he said

The work will be carried out carefully so as not to mutilate bodies, he said.

Tanvir Chowdhury, editor of News From Bangladesh, told Al Jazeera that there "has to be a concerted effort, including the government and the buyers, that this is no longer acceptable".

"If there are safety violation, if there are no equipment for fire safety, those factories should be shut down and the owner should be prosecuted," he said adding that the arrests made so far are a "public relations" stunt because of international pressure.

'Reduced to rubble'

A huge crack appeared in the building, Rana Plaza, on Tuesday, but it is alleged Rana assured tenants it was safe to go inside.

A bank and some shops on the first floor shut their premises on Wednesday after police ordered an evacuation, but managers of the garment factories on the upper floor told workers to continue their shifts.

Hours later the Rana Plaza was reduced to rubble, and most victims were crushed by massive blocks of concrete and mortar falling on them.

A garment manufacturers' group said the factories in the building employed 3,122 workers, but it was not clear how many were inside it when it collapsed. About 2,500 survivors have been accounted for.

Despite international coverage of similar incidents within the industry, very little has changed for garment workers in Bangladesh, where low wages have made it a magnet for numerous global brands.


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## Mark K (Apr 28, 2013)

Was the owner an evil person or did he simply believe that the building regulations were unduly restrictive?  He probably did a lot of rationalizing but what was his intent?

This is not to downplay the tragedy of to suggest that the owner and others should not feel the full wrath of the system.  Rather this is an attempt to understand why so we can address these problems locally.

I am going to suggest that these sort of rationalizations are at work here particularly with regards smaller buildings and in jurisdictions where enforcement is lax.


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## mark handler (Apr 28, 2013)

Mark K said:
			
		

> ... enforcement is lax.


Ya think, eight story building, with permits FOR FIVE FLOORS....


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## ICE (Apr 29, 2013)

Mark K said:
			
		

> Was the owner an evil person or did he simply believe that the building regulations were unduly restrictive?


I reckon he is an evil person that believes that building regulations are unduly restrictive.

As I understand the situation, he had a permit for a five story building and tossed on three more.

Everybody that had a hand in this should pay a price.  The owner needed a contractor.  There was certainly a designer and engineer.  Various government officials knew or should have known and either way they should pay.

Cracks formed a few days before the collapse and that was ignored.  The evil SOB knew what he had done....he knew what was coming....he killed almost four hundred people.


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## Mark K (Apr 29, 2013)

Is the owner evil because he ignored the building regulations or because many people died?

Does believing building regulations are overly restrictive make one evil?  If so then we have a lot of truly evil individuals in the US which raises the question as to why we do not judge these local "evil" individuals the same way we are judging the owner.

Note that you do not have to see the individual as evil before you can send him to jail for a long time so we do not need to link punishment with being evil.

I am more disturbed by the actions of any engineer or building official because they have no excuse for not knowing the likely consequences of what was done.

Declaring the building owner an evil individual may seem right but I do not see how it can lead to changes that prevent future collapses.  If we decide the loss of life is the result of an evil act it may make it easy to avoid asking the question of how the system should be changed.


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## mtlogcabin (Apr 29, 2013)

> A bank and some shops on the first floor shut their premises on Wednesday after police ordered an evacuation, but managers of the garment factories on the upper floor told workers to continue their shifts.


There is a lot of culpability by others in this disastor


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## ICE (Apr 30, 2013)

It has been estimated that more than 1000 people are missing....and Mark K wonders if there is anything evil going on.

Collapsed building owner's property to be seized


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## jeffc (Apr 30, 2013)

ICE said, "It has been estimated that more than 1000 people are missing....and Mark K wonders if there is anything evil going on." I don’t believe Mark is questioning if evil has occurred. I think Mark is asking the question, Is this same recklessness occurring when building owner in your neighborhood does work without a permit? It might be somewhat of a false equivalence because the end results are of those two comparisons are quite different.  Mark also said, I am more disturbed by the actions of any engineer or building official because they have no excuse for not knowing the likely consequences of what was done. I would agree with that statement whole heartily. I think his last sentiment sums it up,  let’s look for some consequences that result in a change to their system.


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## ICE (Apr 30, 2013)

I have rethought the situation and I was wrong to call for punishment for the contractors, engineers, etc....even the government officials.

Bangladesh is a third world country.  Compare it to the USA?  Construction without permits isn't a valid question.  The world knows that construction is suspect in Bangladesh.  Entire neighborhoods are built without any regulation.  Take a look at the domiciles of the 1400 missing people.  Those buildings fall down with regularity.

Who knew what and when only comes into play when the cracks appeared.  That is when the warning should have evacuated the building.

The man that owned the building is just like many other Bangladeshi entrepreneurs.

Had the building collapsed without any warning, the factory managers would be blameless and the owner would be facing a lesser charge with (maybe) a few years in jail.

The crime is letting the building fall on 3000 people.

Now that could get you killed because....well that's just evil.


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## Mark K (Apr 30, 2013)

I do not believe that the end results determine whether evil was involved.  Nor do I believe that we should wait for a major failure before making changes.

The FAA has had a significant impact on airline safety by learning from near misses and supposedly minor problems.  Their focus is on understanding the root causes not on knee jerk responses to the particular circumstances.


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## mark handler (May 9, 2013)

More Empirical designs

Bangladesh building collapse death toll surpasses 900

From Farid Ahmed, for CNN

updated 12:23 PM EDT, Thu May 9, 2013

(CNN) -- More than two weeks after a factory collapsed in Bangladesh, trapping workers in a mangled concrete heap, the death toll has surpassed 900.

Authorities pulled more bodies from the rubble, bringing the number of people killed to 931, Bangladesh's national news agency BSS reported Thursday. The April 24 collapse occurred in Savar, a suburb of the capital, Dhaka.

Rescue workers saved more than 2,400 people in the aftermath of the collapse, but have focused on using heavy machinery to uncover bodies buried beneath the ruins.

 Bangladesh reaches grim milestone Trade rules and cheap Bangladesh clothes

The building, which housed five factories full of garment workers, caved in, burying hundreds of people in a heap of concrete.

It is the South Asian nation's deadliest industrial disaster.

The owners of the building and the factories are under investigation over accusations they ordered workers to enter the premises on the day of the collapse despite cracks in the structure the day before. Bangladesh's $20 billion garment industry accounts for 77% of the country's exports.

Among those caught up in the finger-pointing after the building's collapse are Western retailers and clothing brands that Bangladeshi suppliers say put heavy pressure on prices, resulting in bad pay and conditions for workers.


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## ICE (May 9, 2013)

If you wear clothes, the disaster is your fault.


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## mark handler (May 9, 2013)

ICE said:
			
		

> If you wear clothes, the disaster is your fault.


See Avatar


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## JPohling (May 10, 2013)

first a building collapse and now a fire!  time to go naked!


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## Frank (May 10, 2013)

Fatalities are now over 1000 with 2400 injured-- a major disaster.


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## cda (May 10, 2013)

One person found alive two weeks later!!!!!


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## DRP (May 10, 2013)

And another fire there.

Empirical is not everything other than engineered.



> Khan was the third engineer to be put behind the bar after two other engineers of the Savar Municipally were arrested as they issued safety clearance despite cracks were reported in the structure eventually causing Bangladesh's deadliest ever industrial disaster.


No disagreement on whether you are wearing any clothes.


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