After faulty repairs, quake-damaged housing still perilous

Just a week after repairs were finished, residents of a Mexico City housing development that was damaged in the September 2017 earthquake have already reported major safety issues.

Several people were killed when one of the buildings in the complex collapsed in the 7.1-magnitude quake that struck central Mexico on September 19, 2017.

The families moved back into the buildings, located in Tlalpan, on February 8 and immediately found potentially life-threatening problems with the work contracted by the Mexico City government.

The handrail of a fourth-story balcony came loose and fell to the ground, a victims’ group posted to Facebook on Friday. They also posted photos of window security bars coming loose, the screws barely holding the bars to the wall.

“What other hidden defects could there be in other buildings?” the post read.

The residents demanded that authorities review and approve the safety of all of the housing units that received government repairs.

Eight of the development’s 10 buildings received structural reinforcement, which included complete renovations of the floors, stairwells and electrical, gas, water and drainage networks.

Authorities reviewed the damages on Saturday accompanied by a legal representative of the construction company that performed the repairs.

“The solution is to add angled anchors with 3/8-inch rods and epoxy resin to the floors, studs and interior faces of the walls,” said the reconstruction commission in a press release.

It added that it would carry out a timely review of the apartments and common areas of the other buildings in the complex to find any other safety issues.

Source: Animal Político (sp)

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.

300-kg crocodile alarms bathers at Puerto Escondido’s Bacocho Beach

0
The croc may have been wandering after being displaced from its usual home, a phenomenon that has led to increasing out-of-place crocodile spottings along the Jalisco and Oaxaca coasts.

Sheinbaum again dismisses UN disappearances report as attack on the government of Mexico

2
President Sheinbaum on Tuesday reiterated and expanded her criticisms of the UN's Committee on Enforced Disappearances' report, which asserts the practice is still occurring from within the government.

Border BioBlitz is back! Here’s how you can help document biodiversity in the borderlands

0
Past editions have documented rare or little-known plants, such as Tecate cypress and carpets of common goldfields growing right up against a portion of border wall.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity