Posted on 06/28/2026 5:48:58 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Older buildings, substandard construction and geography left many neighborhoods in Venezuela vulnerable to strong earthquakes like the ones that struck the country this week.
Engineers and other experts said the back-to-back earthquakes on Wednesday were among the most intense to hit the country in more than a century, leveling buildings and leaving more than 900 dead with the number expected to rise. Videos and satellite imagery from the disaster zone reviewed by The Associated Press reveal scores of multistory buildings had collapsed.
Among the factors that left so many structures at risk: Some housing complexes in northern Venezuela were constructed quickly during recent oil booms, and builders may not have adhered to best practices that mitigate the risks of serious seismic activity, according to experts.
Engineers said that older housing erected in the 1950s and 1960s — before modern earthquake standards were adopted — may not have been retrofitted to survive such violent shaking. And many buildings were constructed on geography and soft soils that compound the danger of the earthquakes, the experts said.
David Cocke, a structural engineer in California and former president of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, said that a combination of soft soils, tall towers and older concrete structures contributed to the widespread damage, particularly when buildings pancaked, or collapsed floor-by-floor.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
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No rebar. Happened in Mexico City. Contractors paid off the inspectors during the building process. The places are corrupt and everyone is on the take. It’s no wonder the people keep sneaking back into this country after they’ve been deported.
How many substandard Communist buildings collapsed?
The political situation down there. One columnist suggested we administer the country like MacArthur did in Japan. Set up democratic institutions. Even suggested Ron DeSantis for the job due to his experience with Florida disasters. Too rich for me. We’ll need him here.
As for administering the country it wouldn’t work. Japan had a thousand year history of institutions and structure where shame played a big part in areas such as thievery.
With the earthquake there is a big opportunity for us to steer it in the right direction without the gringo mentality regarding banana republics. Their oil is worth much more than bananas. Do away with the cocaine business.
“”””Among the factors that left so many structures at risk: Some housing complexes in northern Venezuela were constructed quickly during recent oil booms, and builders may not have adhered to best practices that mitigate the risks of serious seismic activity, according to experts.””””
I noted that Associated Press is quick to blame ‘oil”, but hardly mentions the 30 years of Communist regimes as a cause for the collapse of buildings.
——older buildings-——
In China they have the phrase Toufu Drang. The buildings are constructed from Tofu. It means that the construstion is the result of all sorts of problems that are in fact the result of total corruption
I can believe that the series of buildings all certainly constructed by the same builder using identical methods simultaneously failed.
Venezuela certainly was under the direct control of iron fisted leadership that permitted such corruption
I was involved in the design of a mid-rise hotel in the Fort Lauderdale area shortly after the Mexico City earthquake. The structural engineer had just gotten done doing forensic work after that earthquake. I know what may be the best mid-rise building to be in, in a hurricane, in Fort Lauderdale! That building is serious business structurally.
They all are hereby awarded MOTO (Masters of the Obvious) degrees.
Buildings must now be constructed with vertical steel columns or spines. No bricks, concrete exterior, block, or stone. The masonry materials do most of the damage when the earth shakes. It seems one of the few good things in Seattle is the new approach to construction. Attached is a link to a good read on the topic. https://bfs-industries.com/blog/earthquake-resistant-construction/
Wood is light and strong in tension, far better in an earthquake than concrete. It is subject to decay and fire, both of which are manageable. Critical fasteners should be stainless.
We have a huge problem in this country with overstocked forests, especially in places like Washington. We should get a clue as to the energy and construction material going wasted, not to mention that an overstocked forest is very bad for wildlife and plant biodiversity.
I just saw a short video on YouTube of the destruction.
The NO ReBar in the walls is the first thing I noticed.
No wonder so many concrete walls collapsed.
Could it be Coral Ridge Towers?
Most new residential construction was going up three stories, steel ribs and vertical frame, polymer or actual real wood siding. Very tall homes on narrow lots. No lawns at all. Perhaps just some perennial garden and courtyard space. (Which I love)
Doubletree Suites next to the Galleria. Sunrise and the Intracoastal.
They have started to build with Cross Laminated Timbers.
Or CLT for short.
Only recently have they been approved for commercial buildings up to twelve stories.
This started in Europe.
There are now a few manufacturers in the USA.
This is similar to plywood.
Except, instead of 1/8” thick veneers you are laminating 2x6 made from Douglas Fir or Southern Yellow Pine.
Walmart is building a new corporate headquarters that is using this construction method.
There have been a few 10-12 story buildings constructed in Europe and the USA.
Typically anything over four or five stories requires steel framing.
Which is why most apartment buildings and even smaller hotels are all five floors high only.
That allows wood framing and wooden floor and roof trusses.
Marriott uses modular construction in most of its hotels.
The rooms are built in a factory in Nampa, ID and then trucked to the job site in the western US or Canada.
Other companies like Hampton inn stock frame their hotels.
Most apartments buildings all throughout the country are all basically the same floor plan. Whether they are in Texas or Iowa.
CLT has primary been for fancy corporate show pieces so far because it is more expensive than steel reinforced concrete.
The article is interesting. Emeryville, Ca. 6363 Christie Ave. The building stood up to the 1989 earthquake while the low rise Watergate complex built in the mudflats had some pretty serious damage. As for wood one has to consider how it could stand up to a tsunami in costal areas. I’d feel safer in a high-rise on the 10th floor and watch the water take out everything including my car. Saving it would be impossible with everyone crowding the getaway streets. And those underground garages with EV’s. Think of those big batteries shorting out on themselves.
Thanks for that; I hadn’t heard of CLT. Grocery stores in California have been framed with glue-lams for many decades. I’ll look up CLT to learn more about that. I do have a question about the glue: Is it the same stuff they use in strand board? As I understood it, there have been health related problems due to out-gassing formaldehyde with that.
Thank you-it’s a bummer.
IIRC there are three serious full height shear walls in that thing, and a bazillion concrete pilings at the 30’-40’ depth level. Typical columns rested a 9x9 array of pilings (!!).
It was serious damn business, structurally.
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