Monday, August 06, 2007 Capillas: (Mississippi) bridge has fallen down By Stephen Capillas Galley Proof
THE collapse of the Mississippi bridge that claimed the lives of seven people and injured several others was followed by yesterday's report that 70,000 bridges in the US are supposedly "structural deficient" and can thus pose a similar accident that happened in Minnesota the other day.
That same report stated that of the 7,000 plus structural deficient bridges in the US, about 1,000 plus of them are found in Minnesota alone.
This does not also include the fact that the Mississippi bridge collapse may claim more dead victims than was originally reported since about 30 persons remain missing under water and/or unaccounted for by the rescue crews and the authorities.
While we here in Cagayan de Oro can only salivate at the fact that the humble US state of Minnesota has 1,000 plus bridges we can take comfort in the fact that at least the Mississippi bridge tragedy had not happened here in the city, even though the Carmen bridge that got subjected to retro-fitting and eventual repairs last year is far from being structurally stable.
Even now, there are structures placed below the Carmen bridge that somehow help support it, giving rise to suspicions that the contractors responsible for supposedly rebuilding the bridge expedited the repairs for fear of public outrage following the weeks of delays in its repairs that caused major traffic congestion and an unreasonable rise in passenger jeepney fares that totally inconvenienced the commuters.
One could only ask about the status of the Carmen bridge and whether the structures below that infrastructure would be placed there permanently or not.
But it turns out that squeaky structures aren't confined to public structures but private ones as well; the Carmen bridge is not the only structure giving residents cause for concern right now.
The Gaisano mall building in Corrales is posing the same problem with its fourth floor, which sustained cracks following an overflow crowd that attended a commercial event held there recently.
According to the City Building Office, the third floor's roof didn't show any cracks at all but that's certainly no guarantee. For all we know, the fourth floor can give in anytime even before the end of this month.
Last time I saw, there were obvious quickie tile repairs done to cover the cracks sustained during that recent event in the Gaisano fourth floor which caused some panic but fortunately no accidental collapse. And shoppers continue to mill about there like it was everyday business of sorts.
One only hates to think what would happen if these cracks do show up one of these days now that the city fiesta season is upon us and with it, an increased number of people in malls like Gaisano.
The City Building Office should check it again to make sure. We don't want a Mississippi bridge collapse to happen here in the city now, do we? (For questions and comments, please send to sunspot12002@yahoo.com or warpath1232@yahoo.com)
