Five dead in Rio de Janeiro building collapse
Mr Oliver said he was not surprised by the falling building and said: "The infrastructure is poor - only areas such as Barra de Tijuca are modern and well regulated, but behind the main streets in the centre of Rio there are crumbling dirty sidestreets where safety is not the top priority."
Engineers say age is unlikely to have been the cause of the buildings' collapse.
Professor Paulo Roberto do Lago Helene, from the civil engineering school of the University of Sao Paulo, says Brazil still lacks legislation ordering owners to periodically examine the condition of their buildings.
"Those buildings in central Rio are getting old and more attention has to be paid to their maintenance. I don't think there is widespread risk yet but this is certainly an important early warning that we should be looking into this issue", he said.
"New York enacted similar legislation about 20 years ago when a couple of buildings collapsed there."
The incident comes a little over three months after a suspected gas explosion at a restaurant in the city left three people dead.
Concerns have been raised about the state of Rio de Janeiro's infrastructure as Brazil prepares to host football's World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games two years later.
Mr Oliver said he was not surprised by the falling building and said: "The infrastructure is poor - only areas such as Barra de Tijuca are modern and well regulated, but behind the main streets in the centre of Rio there are crumbling dirty sidestreets where safety is not the top priority."
Engineers say age is unlikely to have been the cause of the buildings' collapse.
Professor Paulo Roberto do Lago Helene, from the civil engineering school of the University of Sao Paulo, says Brazil still lacks legislation ordering owners to periodically examine the condition of their buildings.
"Those buildings in central Rio are getting old and more attention has to be paid to their maintenance. I don't think there is widespread risk yet but this is certainly an important early warning that we should be looking into this issue", he said.
"New York enacted similar legislation about 20 years ago when a couple of buildings collapsed there."
The incident comes a little over three months after a suspected gas explosion at a restaurant in the city left three people dead.
Concerns have been raised about the state of Rio de Janeiro's infrastructure as Brazil prepares to host football's World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games two years later.
Comments
Post a Comment