Saturday, January 30, 2010

Collapse

An old building in Hung Hom collapsed suddenly this afternoon. It is not far from where I live. And very close to where my wife lived as a child. Those of us who live in Hong Kong have probably seen and heard a lot about it. Here are some photographs for my friends overseas.

This is the south end of the section of street, looking north. The collapsed building is of the same type and age of the buildings on the right (east) side of the street. They are about 55 years old. 18 buildings in a row. The collapsed building is the last one at the north.

Some heavy equipment is being used in excavation. Three persons have been found dead so far. Two are still missing.

This is the north end of that section of street. The collapsed building should have been standing behind the yellow dump truck.

The collapse ripped gaping holes in the building next to it. The collapsed building shared a staircase with the next building. The staircase has collapsed with the building, leaving the next building without access, and in grave danger of falling down as well. The residents have been evacuated. Many of them through the windows by firemen.

The top flight of stairs is still attached to the next building, hanging in mid-air. Some said the collapse was caused by the damage done to the building by the removal of unauthorized additions to the collapsed building in the past 2 days. Others blame construction work near the foundations of the collapsed building. The truth has yet to be determined.

The whole thing is very scary.




3 comments:

k said...

昨天,我在聖匠堂的副堂看到一位女子,她沒有哭,只是手拿飯盒,雙目茫然。那種茫然,提醒了我,一切的辛福都可以是虛空,就像早兩天GPS那活水經文的分享。她的眼神,也提醒了我作為一個基督徒,有甚麼的社會責任。我實在要作一個入世的基督徒,作一個好撒瑪利亞人。而這次災難亦帶領我們走入人群中遇見主了。及親身的感受社會股務的重要性了。

田园树 said...

豆腐渣!豆腐渣!

StephenC said...

Indeed disaster can strike anytime, anywhere, anyone. As human beings, we should help each other.

Regarding the reason for the collapse. It does not look like the problem is the original construction of the building. Afterall, it had stood there for 55 years. The suspicion is on the renovation that was going on in the ground floor shop.