By: Elizabeth A. Kaine
Tragedy descended upon Freetown again on Monday morning. A seven story building along Bai Bureh Road, Kissy Shell, collapsed this morning around 11am local time. According to Brima Sesay, Director General of the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), “many people were trapped under the rubble”, but he was unable to provide precise figures as the eye witnesses account of the situation vary.
As at going to press, two giant cranes had been positioned by the government and frantic search and rescue efforts were going on. Local community responders were seen using bare hands, shovels and pick axes as they worked against time to search for survivors at the site in eastern Freetown.
While the cause of the collapse was not yet clear, an investigation has been opened, police said. However, building collapses are becoming common in Sierra Leone these days, with more than half a dozen such incidents recorded in the last four months alone. The collapsed of a seven story building along Kissy New Road this morning has revived the conversation around government oversight and the structural integrity of high rise buildings around Freetown.
While collapses caused by external factors like storms, floods, or earthquakes cannot be prevented to a large extent, human negligence is one factor that can be entirely avoided. Still, engineers, contractors, and property owners continue to make mistakes that result in serious accidents from time to time.
“Many of the documented cases of building collapse in Freetown are due to the use of defective or substandard building materials,” says Solomon Cole, a retired surveyor. He went on to suggest that “no requisite technical knowledge, non-adherence to building codes and standards, the use of non-professionals and the high level of corruption which has ravaged every sphere of the building process was responsible for such disaster.”
The situation is becoming epidemic because of the frequency of occurrences and the toll of casualties involved. Authorities often blame building collapses on a failure to enforce building safety regulations. Structural engineers pin the problem on poor maintenance culture as a contributing factor to building collapses.
Lately, home owners have been complaining about the use of defective or substandard building materials as a common cause of building collapse. Design errors can contribute to building collapse. Foundation failures, especially weak foundations can result from poor soil or low depth, can cause the building to move as the soil settles. The chief culprit has been identified as corruption. Corruption is a driving motivation for building collapse. Everyone, from code enforcers to engineers, builders, building material vendors, everybody tries to cut corners.
Isatu Mansaray, 43, a local Of Bia Bureh Road, asked “how many people must die before something is done?” Engineer Peter Lucas that a quick fix to this problem requires going back to the drawing board, starting with the foundation. Foundations resting on poor soil or at low depth often result in the movement of the building as the soil settles eventually. Poor maintenance culture would result in decay, degradation, and reduced performance that leads the building structure to collapse over time.
Surveyor Tommy Newman was of the opinion that “to prevent building collapses around the country, it is important to address these underlying causes. This can be done by implementing stricter building regulations and codes, enforcing them more effectively, and providing training and resources for building officials and regulators.”
According to Mohamed Bangura, a local trader, it’s no mystery, it’s just common sense. When we build houses with quality foundations, and have quality materials that are engineered for the environment, they stand the test of time. On the other hand, if we use substandard materials, and do not properly engineer the structures, they will collapse.
