REASONS BEHIND WHY BUILDING COLLAPSE!
When one considers the rate at which building structure collapse in our town and cities nowadays one cannot help asking the question, 'Why?'.
The reasons are not far to seek when we take into consideration the various factors connected with building construction. It is important to be aware of the fact that building construction is a complex activity which involves so many professionals.
A building doomed to collapse stars its earth-bound journey right from the drawing board. Architects are supposed to be behind the planning of strong, beautiful, flawless structures. Working hand-in-hand with them are structural engineers who calculate the amount and orientation of iron works within the concrete structures. But because these professionals charge fairly high fees, a number of house-owners often circumvent this stage.
There are instances of structures erected overnight, especially during weekend, so as to escape the security of town planning men.
Then comes construction costs which, in recent years, have gone astronomically high. The amount of money which goes into the erection of a single structure today would conveniently have built two or three structures a decade ago. The prohibition costs have driven intending house owners to embark on a number of cost-cutting measures.
So, it is not uncommon to find a builder using one ton of cement where two would be ideal or 8 mm iron rods instead of 12 mm rods for pillars or decking slabs. White wood is now finding its way to the roofs of houses, a phenomenon one would not have ever thought of a few years back. The result can be predicted.
Finally, there is the human factor. The labour force requires round-the-clock supervision. And this is not necessarily because the labourers are ignorant or illiterate, though this in itself is a strong factor, since it is responsible for the fact that labourers are impermeable to instruction.
A more relevant factor is that doing the right thing costs more energy and time; and if no one is around, the labourers will prefer to save time and energy by circumventing the right procedure.
Quite apart from these factors is the fact that honesty is a rare commodity among the labour force. Where the house owner or the site supervisor is absent, for instance, of every two bags of cement supplied, one might disappear, quickly sold away by the labourers and only one bag eventually used.
When we take all those factors together, we will be in a position to answer the questions, 'Why?'.
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