On July 12 local time, a building at a school in Jos, the capital of Plateau State in central Nigeria, collapsed, causing at least 22 deaths and 132 injuries.

Officials from Plateau State said in a statement that as of the evening of July 12, rescuers had found a total of 154 people in the rubble, of whom 22 died and 132 were injured, with 6 of the injured in critical condition.

People gather near the site of the school building collapse in Jos, Nigeria. Xinhua/AP

A student is led away from the site of the school building collapse in Jos, Nigeria. Xinhua/AP

Sundi Abdou, head of the Plateau State Emergency Management Agency, said the collapsed building belonged to a local private school, and the incident occurred on the morning of July 12 local time while students were taking exams.

Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang said the incident was a tragedy and a huge loss for the state, and urged rescuers to continue search and rescue efforts.

Building collapses are characterized by strong suddenness and difficulty for people to escape

and are prone to triggering secondary disasters, with high rescue difficulty and other features

The causes of building collapses may include

design failing to meet requirements, cutting corners on materials, and so on

Once a collapse occurs

it may cause serious casualties and property losses

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Cases of building collapse accidents at home and abroad! The alarm bell rings loud and long

01. Sampoong Department Store collapse in South Korea: 1,500 people buried, 502 deaths!

On June 29, 1995, Building A of the Sampoong Department Store tilted in an instant, and then in less than twenty seconds, the building collapsed! The collapse caused a total of 502 deaths, 937 injuries, and economic losses of 66.7 billion won.

The building collapse was revealed to have been caused by human factors, unrelated to natural disasters or geological conditions. Sampoong executives operated illegally during construction and modified design drawings, which was the main cause of the collapse. Investigators also found that the construction contractor cut corners extremely seriously.

On December 27, 1995, Sampoong Group Chairman Lee Joon was sentenced to 10 years and 6 months in prison for negligent homicide, and his son Lee Han-sang was also sentenced to 7 years in prison for embezzlement and other charges.

A large number of stakeholders were prosecuted, and ultimately a total of 21 people were convicted, 12 of whom were government officials.

02. Savar building collapse in Bangladesh: 1,127 deaths

On April 24, 2013, an eight-story building collapsed in Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh. After 19 consecutive days of searching, the death toll was confirmed at 1,127, with about 2,500 injured.

The entire fifth to eighth floors of the building had been constructed privately without permission. The building was converted from its original commercial use to industrial use, and the weight and vibration of heavy machinery exacerbated the overload of the building structure.

On April 25, 2013, the day after the accident, the Bangladeshi government designated that day as a national day of mourning. This major casualty event also replaced South Korea's 1995 Sampoong Department Store collapse as the disaster with the highest number of fatalities in a building collapse in the world.

03. Royal Plaza Hotel collapse in Thailand: 137 deaths

On August 13, 1993, the six-story Royal Plaza Hotel in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, crashed to the ground in less than 10 seconds, causing a total of 137 deaths and 227 injuries.

At the time of the accident, the hotel was hosting several meetings and seminars, including a large teachers' discussion meeting and a meeting of a Thai oil company. After rushing to the scene, rescuers used jackhammers and crowbars to carry out the rescue. The three floors added to the Royal Plaza Hotel in 1990 had not been properly assessed, and the owner and an engineer were therefore arrested by police. In addition, the large amount of water stored on the hotel roof to cope with water supply shortages was also a cause of the collapse.

04. New Delhi building collapse in India: 67 deaths

On November 15, 2010, a poorly built residential building collapsed in New Delhi, India, causing a total of 67 deaths and 150 injuries.

In addition to its substandard quality, rainfall and surging river water were also causes of the accident. After the tragedy, rescuers used jackhammers and sniffer dogs to carry out the rescue. It is reported that the residential building housed about 400 migrant workers, all from rural areas of eastern India. The vast majority of them earned only enough to cover basic living expenses, and living in such an apartment was a last resort.

05. Self-built house collapse in Changsha, Hunan: 54 deaths

At 12:24 on April 29, 2022, an especially major self-built house collapse occurred in Panshuwan Group, Jinping Community, Jinshanqiao Street, Wangcheng District, Changsha City, Hunan Province, causing 54 deaths and 9 injuries, with direct economic losses of 90.7786 million yuan.

The direct cause of the accident was that the original five-story (partly six-story) building, which was constructed illegally, had poor quality, unreasonable structure, poor stability, and low load-bearing capacity. After illegal additional floors were added to expand it to eight stories (partly nine stories), the load increased substantially, causing the columns and walls on the east side of the second floor to exceed their ultimate bearing capacity, resulting in compressive failure that continued to develop and ultimately caused the overall collapse of the house. Before the incident, despite obvious signs of collapse, the homeowner refused to heed advice and did not take emergency evacuation measures, which was an important reason for the high number of casualties.

The homeowner involved, the legal representative of Hunan Xiangda Engineering Testing Co., Ltd., and 14 other people were placed under investigation and publicly prosecuted, and 62 public officials, including the former director of the Hunan Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the director of the Changsha Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau, were held accountable (4 of whom were transferred to judicial authorities).

06. Xinjia Hotel collapse in Quanzhou, Fujian: 29 deaths

At 19:14 on March 7, 2020, the building housing the Xinjia Hotel in Licheng District, Quanzhou City, Fujian Province, collapsed, causing 29 deaths and 42 injuries, with direct economic losses of 57.94 million yuan.

Direct causes of the accident:

1. Mezzanine floors were added to the building, and the vertical load exceeded the limit, which was the fundamental cause of the collapse;

2. Disturbance from welding reinforcement work triggered the collapse.

The responsible unit, Quanzhou Xinxing Electromechanical Industry and Trade Co., Ltd., illegally added mezzanine floors to the Xinjia Hotel building, changing it from the original four stories to seven stories, reaching the ultimate bearing capacity and being in a critical state of collapse. In addition, before the incident, illegal reinforcement welding work on the supporting steel columns at the bottom triggered instability and failure of the steel columns, leading to the overall collapse of the building.

Twelve people, including the actual controller of Xinjia Hotel, the contracted operator, the organizer of illegal construction, and designers, were arrested, 11 were released on bail pending trial, and 49 public officials were disciplined, 7 of whom were transferred to judicial authorities.

07. Juxian Restaurant collapse in Linfen, Shanxi: 29 deaths

At about 9:40 on August 29, 2020, the Juxian Restaurant in Chenzhuang Village, Taosi Township, Xiangfen County, Linfen City, Shanxi Province, collapsed, causing 29 deaths and 28 injuries, with direct economic losses of 11.6435 million yuan.

The investigation determined that the "8·29" major collapse accident at Juxian Restaurant in Xiangfen County, Linfen City, was a production safety responsibility accident caused by illegal land occupation and construction, and, in the absence of professional design and qualified construction, repeated blind renovation and expansion, with serious defects in the construction quality of the building, leading to the collapse of part of the building during business operations.

Qi Mouhua, the person in charge of Xiangfen Juxian Restaurant, was sentenced to seven years in prison, and 31 people, including the director of the Xiangfen County Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau and the deputy director of the Linfen Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau, were held accountable.