5 minutes agoCorruption widespread in Venezuela may have affected poor construction quality
Periskopi(an hour ago)
(an hour ago)Decades of economic crisis and widespread corruption in Venezuela imply that many buildings are likely to be poorly maintained or built outside official construction regulations, according to Matthew. Blackett, associate professor of natural hazards at the Coventry University in the United Kingdom.
Venezuela ranks 180th out of 182 countries in the organisation's Transparency International Corruption Perception Index. This low ranking shows that there is a very high level of perceived corruption in the public sector in Venezuela, writes CNN.
Experts say the current building codes in the country are in line with international standards and are up-to-date. However, buildings built in the 1950 ' s, 1960, and 1970 ' s before these codes can be fully updated, they have natural weaknesses because of their age. (The son of Venezuela's ousted former president, Nicolaás Maduro, said on Thursday that most of the buildings that collapsed in Caracas are old constructions from the years 50 and 5060. )
Blacket added that many buildings and residences in Venezuela were built during the oil boom at that time and that compromises in many cases have been made in the quality of construction to lower costs.
Civil society groups in Venezuela have warned that some of the worst hit areas are large complex public residences, such as Croatia's La Mar, where Hugo Chavez's government built hundreds of apartments at a time when Venezuela's population was growing rapidly. According to them, construction codes may not have been rigorously applied at that time.
Another important factor is that many buildings have probably not adapted (retro-wined) according to modern earthquake resistance standards.
If you look at a place like San Francisco, after the end-of-year earthquakes, the government offered incentives and financing to reinforce buildings so that they were safe. The buildings were inspected and those that did not meet the standards were declared inappropriate for use of”, Blackett told CNN. This did not happen there (in Venezuela). ”
Meanwhile, Raffaele De Riesi, associate professor of civil engineering at the University of Bristol, stated that the crucial <x0-cytoy, which can be answered only after the assessments conducted after the event, is how many of the existing residential status is built before the entry into force of these standards or is built in a informal way outside them. ”
