Plenty of blame to go around in Miami condo collapse – National & International News – MON 28Jun2021
Miami condo collapse update: rescue efforts continue, blame game afoot. Fury in South Africa over proposal to allow women multiple husbands.
NATIONAL NEWS
Miami condo collapse update
The picture at the site of the condo collapse in Surfside, FL, has changed little over the weekend. Rescue workers remain on the scene round the clock and say they have not given up on finding possible survivors. However, the prospects of finding more are looking increasingly dim.
Rescuers have not pulled any survivors from the rubble since the first hours after the collapse. Workers have so far found 10 bodies, some of which have been identified, as well as numerous partial remains. Victims are being identified with DNA from surviving loved ones on an expedited basis. Over 150 people remain unaccounted for.
Slow pace
Loved ones of the victims have protested that the rescue effort is proceeding too slowly. However, the slow pace is necessary since the rescuers are working in increasingly hazardous conditions. Several rescue workers have already suffered injuries from falling debris, with some requiring hospitalization. Fires at the site, extreme heat and inclement weather have created further setbacks for the rescue operation.
Blame game
In contrast, the fingerpointing for the cause of the disaster is proceeding rapidly. In the hours following the disaster, various structural engineers said it could take months to analyze the event and pinpoint a cause.
As it turns out, that analysis had, in effect, already taken place, back in 2018. At that time, Morabito Consultants had already produced a 9-page report detailing numerous flaws with the building’s original construction. The most serious of these problems was that the concrete slab (which serves as an artificial bedrock in the surrounding sand), was flat rather than sloped. This caused water to pool at the base until it evaporated, rather than draining off quickly. Adding to the problem was inadequate waterproofing of the concrete, especially around the pool area.
The 2018 report also recommended that $millions in corrective repair work be carried out “in a timely manner”. The report warned at the time that failing to address the problems quickly would “cause the extent of the concrete deterioration to expand exponentially”.
Just a few weeks after Morabito published this report, a Surfside city employee directly contradicted the findings. Local building official Ross Prieto told residents of the building in a condo board meeting that “it appears the building is in very good shape”. This pronouncement certainly undermined the urgency of the situation.
Nevertheless, at the time of the collapse, the condo board was in the process of collecting repair fees from the various owners to undertake the repairs. It’s possible, but by no means certain, that quicker action by the condo board might have prevented the disaster.
Fears of more collapses
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett is also considering evacuating residents from an identical building in the same complex, which was built by the same developer. Burkett has also sought an emergency inspection of Champlain Towers North, the companion building to Champlain Towers South, which collapsed. Burkett further said that if he were a resident of Champlain Towers North, “I’d be gone”.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
South Africa: Fury over law to allow women multiple husbands
The practice of polygamy, in which one man is lawfully married to multiple wives, has long been allowed under South Africa’s 1994 constitution. However, a new proposal to legalize polyandry, in which one woman has multiple husbands, is stirring controversy.
Some of the most vocal opponents of the proposal are themselves polygamists. One of the most outspoken opponents to polyandry in South Africa is TV personality Musa Mseleku, who has four wives. Mseleku stars in a South African reality show documenting life in his polygamist household.
“This will destroy African culture. What about the children of those people? How will they know their identity? The woman cannot now take the role of the man. It’s unheard of”.
“UnAfrican”?
Mseleku describes polyandry as “unAfrican”. But Professor Collis Machoko, from neighboring Zimbabwe, begs to differ. Machoko has documented the lives of openly and secretly polyandrous marriages in South Africa and other African countries. Machoko says that the resistance to legitimizing polyandry is “about control. African societies are not ready for true equality. We don’t know what to do with women we cannot control”.
Machoko says polyandry was once openly practiced in many parts of Africa. Polyandry is still legal in the West African country of Gabon to this day. According to Machoko, the arrivals of colonialism and Christianity on the continent diminished the status of women, and drove the practice of polyandry underground.
Men and women agree to polyandrous relationships for a variety of reasons. Men in such relationships found that such relationships took some of the pressure off of them, such as the pressure to perform sexually and to produce children.
“The question of children is an easy one,” Machoko says. “Whatever children are born from that union are the children of the family”.
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