The city engineer's office and other local government offices in the City of Manila have been ordered to conduct a thorough investigation into the collapse of the SAI building, an eight-storey, five-year old building in Juan Luna, Tondo.
Although no injuries have been reported by the police, former Manila Mayor Jose Atienza Jr. said that city hall men are trying to establish the real cause of the crumble.
One theory being looked at, he said, is the effect of excavations of buildings under construction in adjacent areas.
As of yesterday, police and rescue teams from both local and national government were still trying to demolish the collapsed building that blocks the commercial areas in Juan Luna and Padre Rada streets in Tondo.
Declaring the area as an "unsafe zone," Atienza said the city engineer's demolition team has secured the area from passersby and motorists to avoid accidents. He said the local government is planning to totally demolish the collapsed building.
Engineers belonging to the Association of Structural Engineers of the Philippines (ASEP) will start to reconstruct the foundation and supporting beams of the SAI building which collapsed Friday afternoon to determine what caused it to tumble down.
Engineer Jun Novero, a structural engineer of the Manila City Engineer's Office said that they are still trying to clear the area around the building to make way for their investigation.
Novero said that Atienza's primary concern was that no one will be hurt even during the "clearing operations" in the area as people still frequent the area despite the warning posted by the city government.
He explained that once they have cleared the area of any obstructions, they will begin their probe together with the Manila City Engineer's Office to examine the foundation, beams and columns of the SAI building to determine the cause of its collapse.
Novero, however, refused to further comment, saying that they could still not "speculate" on the cause of the building to collapse as there will certainly be "legal repercussions" should they make a wrong assessment regarding the incident.
As of 12 p.m., linemen were still trying to repair the electrical lines in the area as many commercial establishments like the CKS building are located in there.
Juan Luna St., Juan Luna-Recto Intersection, Herrera and Padre Rada streets have already been closed to vehicles to give way to the clearing operations. Private and public utility vehicles are advised to use Dagupan, located at the side of the Tutuban Center to get to and from Divisoria.
The City Engineer's Office will contact Engineer Harry Wong, who did the structural design, to ask questions on how the building was constructed.
The SAI building it was learned was constructed five years ago and is owned by a certain Ajit Mansukhani.
Some 20 trucks and fire trucks, together with more than 30 police officers and firefighters are present in the site while awaiting for the start of the clearing operations.
Novero said that they hope to go through with the clearing operations as quickly as possible to let the business establishments return to normal.
He noted that Juan Luna St. is a vital road used by many motorists to head towards the Camanava area.
If there was anything good that turned out with the collapse of the SAI building, practitioners and students could use the incident as a "case study" to better their profession, he pointed out, adding that the incident might even be used as a trick question in the upcoming board examination.
The City Engineer's Office is also trying to determine if building officials did an annual check of the SAI building.
Supposedly, building officials are tasked to check the overall state of buildings in Metro Manila to make sure that they are still safe.
Officials, however, admitted that they were caught off guard by the incident.
A similar event happened 37 years ago when the Ruby Tower collapsed in 1968 during an Intensity 7 earthquake.
Based on the findings of ASEP and the City Engineer's Office, the Task Force created will recommend actions that should be taken. But it will be up to Mayor Atienza to take the next steps based on what the TF submits to him, he said.
Building officials will also assess the damaged made to an adjacent building which was hit when the SAI building fell.
Policemen were on hand to secure the area from looters who might take advantage of the opportunity to snatch any valuables still housed in the ruins as there were many commercial and residential establishments located inside the collapsed building.
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anong cause ng pag collapse???
shasyra 1 year ago
@shasyra poor foundation.. so case closed nga ba?? it was during ex-Mayor Atienza's term
iamdwyanecardiff 1 year ago
Sayangdi ko nakita ng personal,Malapit lang kami dyan....
ralphbosero 2 years ago
condo yun SAI building...
iamdwyanecardiff 2 years ago