Posted by The Port Harcourt Telegraph on
A high rise building in Port Harcourt has come down in a heap, dragging some of those within the project site to early graves.
A high rise building in Port Harcourt has come down in a heap, dragging some of those within the project site to early graves.
The high-rise structure is one of the many buildings that are dotting the Abacha Way, a new Government Reserved Area that is on the fast lane.
The incident occurred Tuesday. A worker who had gone off to buy some thing, this publication heard, returned only to find that the structure had caved in.
At least, 20 persons are feared to have lost their lives in the disaster which got the State government moving.
Governor Peter Odili ordered the Urban and Housing Commissioner to get to the bottom of what could have led to the calamity.
Most of Tuesday passers-by as well as residents within the area stared at the structure with complete unbelief.
Our man who got to the site said it was a horrifying incident and a reminder of another incident in which students came down with a school building that suddenly wobbled and fell to pieces.
On that occasion, an inquiry headed by late Mr. C. E Okpara, a retired Director of Education and principal tried to make sense of what happened.
And recommended that the school building be completely demolished.
Many years after, the Rivers State is experiencing another disaster although the older incident took more toll in terms of lives lost.
Thus far, the reason for the collapse of the building under construction has not emerged. But experts reason that structural defects arising from the design of the massive building might be responsible for the collapse.
Others posit the use of poor quality materials could be a major factor why the structure caved in like the Tower of Babel. Whatever it is, some souls - the builders and other artisans who have been toiling to erect the edifice - are gone, their faces never to be seen on this side of live's divide.
Said one onlooker, "I feel terribly sorry for the people who have been lost. At a time like this our soul goes out to those they left behind and what could befall them now that their bread winners are gone".