For years I have been warning about the non-technical and unprincipled renovations that are taking place in the country, especially in Tehran, in residential units and mostly in high-rise buildings. In the event of accidents, the municipality and the engineering system will be the main culprits, based on what is available in structural engineering and be recorded in the history of the country! The order is offered to summon the respected official of the country’s attorney general.
Unfortunately, being inattentive and careless in the matter of building and just making money in any way possible is the bane of the integrity of state buildings. Two days ago, news emerged that a 13-storey building collapsed again in the city of Alexandria, Egypt, and a large number of people were buried under the rubble.
main news first,
https://www.mashreghnews.ir/news/1503001/ Movie-the-Fall-of-a-13-story-building-in-Egypt
Egypt, and especially the city of Alexandria, is one of the places where many buildings collapse almost every year! When you study the reasons for the collapse of these buildings, you find two main reasons, lax municipal laws, lack of supervision and lack of non-technical renovations within the unit! Exactly like Tehran and other cities of the country!? Of course, Alexandria’s soil condition is another major factor.
For many years, the writer has warned against reconstruction, especially with the earthquake conditions in the country, but unfortunately, the municipalities do not understand or care about the importance of the subject. Renovation in residential units on brigade floors only refers to very simple superstructure works in units, not removing walls or rerouting pipes, sewage, gas, etc.!
It has been at least 50 years since we knew in structural engineering that the behavior of structural structures with filler walls differs from structural structures without filler walls in terms of lateral stiffness within the plane! But the municipality still ignores this issue carelessly and issues a permit for it!?
When, for example, in a building of 10 floors the floors are of the type, but a random unit removes a wall with the permission of the municipality, it causes the greatest damage to the whole building (ten floors) in lateral rigidity and floor torsion. during the earthquake. If all units took it, perhaps it would not be hindered, but no one could take it and not the other! In general, the influence of these walls is not taken into account in the analysis and design of the skeleton, but when it is! The current difficulty can no longer be hidden.
I have informed the municipality several times that this issue is vital in managing urban vulnerability in an earthquake-prone country like Iran. Sample pictures below: This kind of work is harmful to the owner who does not know and does not understand the subject and insists on committing suicide, and harms all unit owners and the building. In the pictures below, note that the walls have been removed, the gas valve and gas pipe moved, and a lot of work that would level the building during an earthquake!
In any case, I wanted to record this case in the history of the country, we know about this case for more than 50 years, but we do not deal with it. Sympathy is useless, some want to make buildings ready to collapse at any cost! It goes without saying that in the event of damage and its proof, which is very simple in such cases, the owners, responsible supervising engineers and issuers of licenses, including the municipality and the building directorate, should be responsible for the reconstruction of the entire building. Building according to the law!?
Top photo: moving the gas pipe, changing the ducts, pipes and changing the stiffness of the floors, bottom photo, disastrous removal of the solid walls inside the plane
State Model Professor in Structural Engineering, Earthquake Engineering and Crisis Management
