Miscellaneous

Disaster Prevention and Management

ISSN: 0965-3562

Article publication date: 13 November 2007

50

Citation

(2007), "Miscellaneous", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 16 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2007.07316eac.005

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


Miscellaneous

23 February 2006Collapse of covered market, Moscow, Russia

The snow-covered roof of a Moscow market collapsed early today, killing at least 40 people and forcing rescuers to clear away concrete slabs and metal beams to reach possible survivors trapped in the wreckage, officials said. Officials ruled out terrorism and said heavy snow may have been to blame. It was uncertain how many people were still trapped – dead or alive – under the wreckage. Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu said about ten survivors were trapped earlier in the day, and they could be heard “knocking and crying out”. Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov said at least 40 people had been killed and 29 injured in the collapse. A duty officer at the Ministry said the death toll could have been higher had the collapse occurred while the market was open for retail business. Investigators were looking at three possible causes of the collapse – improper maintenance of the building, a build-up of snow on the roof and errors in the building’s design, Moscow prosecutor Anatoly Zuyev said. Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who went to the site to oversee rescue efforts, said terrorism was unlikely. “Chances are more than 90 per cent that a terrorist act can be ruled out”, he said. “It was a technical accident”. Prosecutors have opened an investigation into the incident, RIANovosti said. Russian media said the entire roof, covering an area of about 2,400 square yards, had fallen onto the market stalls. Most of the victims were believed to be municipal and market workers from outside Moscow, though Ekho Moskvy radio said there could also have been wholesale buyers in the building.

24 February 2006

Russian rescue workers said today they had given up hope of finding anyone else alive under the rubble of a Moscow market roof that collapsed on top of traders, killing 57 people. The death toll rose by one overnight after emergency services recovered the body of a woman from the wreckage of the Basmanny Market in Eastern Moscow. Rescue workers who had been searching with sniffer dogs in the hope of finding survivors trapped under the debris were pulled out and replaced by excavators who set to work clearing the site. “The death toll is 57, including one child, and 23 people are in hospital”, an official with the Emergencies Ministry said. “We think it is very unlikely that anyone else will be found”. The death toll was not expected to rise because rescuers believe they have recovered all the bodies, the official said. The collapse occurred in the early hours of the morning, when there were no customers but traders were setting up stalls. Some of them were asleep. President Vladimir Putin has called for a “painstaking investigation” to establish why the roof of the building, built in the 1970s, collapsed. Moscow city officials have blamed the weight of snow on the structure.

25 February 2006

The director of a Moscow market where the roof collapsed, killing at least 61 people, was charged with negligence, prosecutors said today, as hope faded for finding more survivors. Hundreds of workers laboured around the clock to clear the enormous mound of concrete and steel at the Basmanny Market using power shovels and other heavy equipment, an indication of the limited hopes that anybody was alive underneath. Prosecutor Anatoly Zuyev said the market’s director, Mark Mishiyev, had been charged with negligence leading to deaths, which carries a maximum sentence of at least three years. Zuyev also said prosecutors had ordered an analysis by explosives experts and a comprehensive construction analysis would follow. Officials had all but ruled out terrorism as the cause of the collapse, saying it was probably due to the build-up of heavy snow, design flaws or maintenance errors. Mayor Yuri Luzhkov held out little hope for finding anybody alive in the wreckage. Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov said late Friday that the death toll had reached 60, but Russian news agencies cited Luzhkov as saying that 61 were killed. Authorities had said 57 bodies were recovered from the wreckage and one man died of his injuries today. Reports of injuries ranged from 21 to 60. Yevgeny Yevdokin, the city’s chief anaesthesiologist, said most of the injured were in critical condition and he described traumas ranging from head, chest and stomach injuries to broken limbs. Kasayev said the government would cover all the costs of transporting the bodies, and the Moscow city government has promised a one-time $3,500 payment to the families of each victim.

22 February 2006Collapse of trade hall roof, Katowice, Poland

Prosecutors said today they have filed charges against three managers of a company that owned an exhibition hall whose roof collapsed last month, killing 65 people. The snow-covered roof of the hall in the Southern Polish city of Katowice collapsed on January 28 during a racing pigeon fair that had drawn visitors from across Europe. Another 140 people were hurt. The three men, who were detained for questioning yesterday, neglected safety measures, failed to consult specialists about the impact of bad weather and failed to cancel the fair, prosecutor Tomasz Tadla said. The three, who include New Zealander Bruce Robinson, president of the Katowice International Fair, could be jailed for eight years if convicted on charges of negligence and exposing people to the loss of life, Tadla said. Also charged were two Poles. Tadla did not specify what evidence had prompted the charges. However, prosecutors, who have questioned some 200 people so far as part of their investigation, say the managers were aware of past problems at the 10,000 square metre hall. In January 2002, heavy snowfall made the large surface of the roof bend under the weight, while a further deformation of steel elements in the hall was noticed in January of this year. Prosecutors are also checking whether there were any irregularities in the company’s financial records. Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz said yesterday that the government would soon start making special payments to survivors of the accident and relatives of those killed.

8 March 2006Flooding in coalmine, Xingning, China

A court in Southern China has sentenced 16 officials to jail terms of up to six years in connection with a coalmine flood that killed 123 people, the government said today. Those sentenced included Wang Zhuoxiong, chief of the local work safety office in Daxing, a city in Guangdong province, and Li Zhenquan, deputy director of the local land resources bureau, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The report did not give the specific sentences for Wang and Li. Provincial authorities ordered all coalmines in Guangdong to shut down after the August 7 flood at the Daxing coalmine, which had been operating without a licence and in violation of orders to close due to a flood at a nearby pit that killed 16 people. The government also ordered officials to sever all business ties with coalmines. The officials sentenced today were convicted of various crimes including dereliction of duty, taking bribes and illegal mining, the report said. Another 22 local officials received unspecified administrative penalties, it said. The mine’s owner, Zeng Yungao, and 17 people with business connections to the mine are also due to face sentencing soon, the report said.

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