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Cameroon: Storey Building Collapses


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The=20 Post (Buea)

27 August 2007
Posted=20 to the web 27 August 2007

Edwin Nfor

A storey building situated behind the Great Soppo = market in=20 Buea, Southwest Province, crumbled at about 6:30 pm on Sunday, August = 19, as=20 rehabilitation work on it was in progress.

The Post gathered that the lowest floor was = recently rented=20 out to King Solomon Secondary School, which is supposed to go = operational from=20 September 3.

Subsequently, the 36-room edifice had to be fixed = before the=20 start of the academic year.It was learned that the technicians hired to=20 rehabilitate the building had started plastering it on Thursday, August = 16, and=20 were sure to finish before September 1.

In the course of their work, they said they = noticed some=20 abnormalities in the building which they pointed out to the caretaker. = Then as=20 fate would have it, on Sunday, at about 5:30 pm, the workers ran short = of water=20 and had to stop work.

It was about 45 minutes later that they saw the = building=20 collapsing. A closer look at the crumbled block - two floors and owned = by a=20 former Senior Divisional Officer, SDO, for Fako, Robert Ngambi Dikome, = indicated=20 that it sank under the weight of some ten years of neglect and battering = from=20 the torrential Buea rains.

The iron rods used to reinforce the concrete = pillars and=20 beams, as they could be seen, were too thin for the purpose. There also = seemed=20 to be more sand in the concrete mixture than cement.

According to one of the technicians at the site, = Jerome=20 Gemoh, they had noticed that the foundation was not solid enough and the = mixture=20 had been poorly done.

Gemoh also said the pillars of the building were = not well=20 placed and most parts did not have pillars as supposed. "In fact, I = blame the=20 contractors who started the work," Gemoh retorted.

He also remarked that his greatest thanks go to = God who=20 spared about 20 of them working at the construction site. "It is God who = caused=20 water to stop flowing for us to stop work and leave the building," he = said.

For his part, one of the proprietors of King = Solomon=20 Secondary School, Vincent Ndip, said he had a sleepless night on Sunday = after=20 hearing about the incident.

He said he thought about how he had strolled in = the building=20 the day before. "Only God has saved us from this scandal," he said, = adding,=20 "people's children would have been killed in this place."

Workers on collapsed building site counting their = luck

Ndip also recalled that he had told the caretaker = that the=20 building was going to collapse because of cracks that were seen on the = wall.The=20 building, The Post gathered, was originally meant to be a single floor = bungalow.=20 The owner later decided to transform it into a hotel.

This was done without any re-enforcements on the = foundation=20 and the pillars. All this, in addition to the fact that the unroofed = structure=20 had been soaked by rain, were likely the cause of the collapse.

Buea Council Reacts

According to an employee of the Works Service at = Buea Rural=20 Council, Emmanuel Elinge, the council only approves buildings as = presented to it=20 by the Southwest Provincial Service of Architecture.

As to why the council marks off houses with the = red-lettered=20 order, "See Mayor", Elinge said such houses don't have permits to be = built,=20 usually obtained from the council as recommended by the Provincial = Service of=20 Architecture.

To him, there is nowhere that people cannot put up = storey=20 buildings so far as there is a solid and deep foundation, and a good=20 mixture.

A worker at the Southwest Provincial Service of = Surveys,=20 Stone Ewome, told The Post that putting up a good and lasting structure = begins=20 with going to the Delegation of Town Planning with the dimension of the = land and=20 a site plan of the building.

At the service, a Town Planning Certificate, = specifying how=20 to fit the structure into that particular plot would be issued.For his = part, a=20 technician at the Southwest Provincial Service of Architecture, whose = only name=20 The Post got as Tanifor, said their duty is solely to recommend = structures for=20 the Mayor's approval.

As to why he thought buildings collapse, Tanifor = remarked=20 that their foundations are usually not solid and people never care to = solicit=20 the duties of registered structural engineers.

He also reiterated the fact that people in high = offices=20 usually bypass important services because no one would ask them why, not = realising the aftermath.

Relevant=20 Links

Central=20 Africa
Cameroon=20
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"I don't know if Mr. Ngambi ever sought counsel = from an=20 architect," Tanifor said, "and if I look through my files, I doubt if I = will=20 find that building plan."

Other sources contacted by The Post maintained = that most=20 people who construct buildings these days have no respect for the=20 pre-construction formalities put in place.

"Consider the lives that would have been lost if = the workers=20 were in the building or if students had started school," someone = remarked.

Copyright = =A9 2007 The=20 Post. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media = (allAfrica.com). To = contact the=20 copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to=20 republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.=20


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