Last year an apartment block collapsed in Pyongyang, North Korea. It’s not clear how many people were killed or injured but it was supposed to be pretty gnarly. It was so bad in fact that the officials couldn’t ignore it or sweep it under the carpet as is their usual modus operandi.
Below is a photo capturing an incredibly rare site – government officials almost apologising for the incident. Although, it was less of an apology and more of a massive blame shift. The official line was that the construction of the apartment block…
…was not done properly and officials supervised and controlled it in an irresponsible manner.
Kim Jong un was reportedly very upset about the accident, officially his feelings of sadness over the needless loss of life kept him awake at night. I’m not sure how he ever gets any sleep at all with the amount of suffering in his country, but hey ho, each to their own. Here he is visiting the site of the incident looking really, really sad:
A report on NK News (an excellent website) released a report this week showing that this building collapse probably wasn’t a freak accident and is very unlikely to be a one off. Their construction industry is a joke, but not a funny one, just a really dangerous and rather terrifying one.
NK News sent pictures of the Changjon Street complex to Chartered Structural Engineer Prof. John Nolan, former President of the London-based Institution of Structural Engineers. He described the scenes as “truly shocking”.
The Changjon Street complex, which opened in June 2012, comprises three 47 floor buildings and 15 buildings of around 20-36 floors. Many observers were concerned at the speed at which it was built without the appropriate building ingredients like reinforced steel.
The photos show flimsy steel support rods…
More shonky building on the next page…
Work panels used to set the reinforced concrete walls appear wobbly…
Even without the appropriate qualifications and certificates, the buildings just look a bit rubbish…
With old school, low grade hoists to lift things into place there is no apparent pandering to health and safety either…
So… there may be trouble ahead. Or should I say more trouble to add to the massive slew of trouble the poor residents of North Korea already have.
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