On April 18, 2023, there was a sudden collapse of a parking garage in NYC Lower Manhattan. As a result of this collapse, one died, and many got injured as per the reports. This car parking facility is near the New York Stock Exchange and Pace University.
Soon after this incident, the rescue operation started to save the lives of people who got stuck inside the collapse.
Report After The Garage Collapse
The chief of fire operations, John Esposito reported to the media about this collapse, According to his statement, one worker died in the collapse and four people got injured and they were all admitted to hospital and getting treatment. The five injured people didn’t get medical help, as the individual was just denied the treatment. Also, all six workers are inside the garage during the collapse.
It was challenging and dangerous for the firefighters to rescue the people. They even find it difficult to order the firefighters out of the structure like this collapse. Since the building was collapsing continuously, the firefighters find it daunting. They even used some robotic devices to carry out the rescue operation.
Officials evacuated the students from the Pace University building as a precautionary step. They also asked the faculties to take remote classes for students on Wednesday. So, the officials closed the university building to ensure the safety of students and staff members.
People’s Response About This Fast Collapse of Garage
Based on the Reuters report, people who saw this collapse gave some interviews. One of the people who found the garage getting collapsed so fast is Thai Nguyen. He is the manager of the nearby shop which is just two buildings away from this garage. Due to this collapse, people even ran inside his shop for saving them.
Sandy Imhoff is another person who is living on the same street in an apartment. Due to the force of the collapse, she even fled her home with two cats due to unexpected collapse sounds and force. She even saw other people inside her apartment also evacuated due to this collapse effect.
Based on the online records of the New York City Department of Buildings, the parking garage had 45 violation issues. Since 2003, the garage had 25 violations and most of them are related to its elevators.
There was a filing in 2003 and according to that, there are ceiling slab cracks and exposed rear cracks. The same filing also revealed that they paid a penalty of $800 for its violation issues.
Based on the first responder’s report, it is clear that the building is unstable. FDNY will not allow anyone into the building until the building becomes safer to use. The New York City Department of Buildings understood that it was a hazardous violation from 2003 even after paying a penalty to the Government for concrete cracks.
Conclusion
With the above incident, the Department of Buildings is now checking thoroughly about violations or violated buildings. This is to ensure that there won’t be any similar problems in the future.
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