The Technical Building Inspection (ITE) that passed in January the building at 9 Canigó Street, which collapsed last Tuesday causing three fatalities, detected serious deficiencies that should be studied in more detail. The ITE are mandatory visual reviews that certify whether the property has complied with the rehabilitation and conservation of the building. In most cases, serious pathologies cannot be located with the naked eye as they are hidden under false ceilings.
The mayor of Badalona, Xavier Garcia Albiol, initially referred to possible serious pathologies in the roof slab as a probable cause of the interior collapse of the block in the Raval neighborhood. This is a first approximation that was already detected by the ITE and that left a more in-depth investigation in the hands of the property.
Based on the inspection, it is mandatory for the technicians to establish a calendar of priority actions in the building, the expenses of which must be borne by the owners or communities. The inspection they carried out in the building, according to some tenants, was limited to “sealing some small cracks and cleaning up moisture.” They recognize that for structural deficiencies, ITE is not enough “nor can it detect everything.”
If the building suffered from a more serious pathology, it was not detected in time with the visual inspection. Hence, the case is under judicial investigation, in which experts will analyze all these technical aspects.
The building was built in 1959 and was part of a development of two other identical blocks. Now, at the request of the residents of the adjacent buildings, a thorough inspection of the structures is required to detect whether they could have similar pathologies that would recommend their eviction. “The fact is that we live with the anguish of knowing that our block is the same as the one that fell and no one tells us anything,” a neighbor cried out yesterday. Others remember with terror the moments of the collapse. “We heard a roar similar to a big storm and a movement of earth,” another resident explained.
For the moment, the Badalona City Council will help by providing municipal technical services to clarify the causes of the collapse. In addition, it has created a personalized attention office for victims “so that they can help negotiate with insurance and owners.”
Last Wednesday, the neighbors, accompanied by Firefighters and the Urban Police, were already able to access the interior of the building, one by one, to try to recover some of their personal belongings that were left deposited on the property once the Firefighters removed up to 90 meters. cubic of rubble.
