Case Study 1

                                      Building Collapses in Deira 

Twenty-one workers had a narrow escape when a six-storey building that was under construction in the Deira area collapsed on Sunday, a police officer said.

Members of Dubai Police and Fire and Rescue and Civil Defense cordoned the area of a building which collapsed at the corner of 1st and 28th street in Abu Hail, behind Ramada Continental Hotel in Deira. No one was reported injured. No one was injured, but nearly a dozen cars were destroyed.

Sniffer dogs searched the rubble till late at night.

The building on Al Etihad Road at the Galadari Intersection, next to Ramada Continental Hotel, collapsed around 3.30pm, said Brigadier Khalil Al Mansouri, director of General Department of Criminal Investigation.

He said 21 workers were inside the building when they heard the crackling sound. Ten of them rushed to safety, and the remaining 11 were later evacuated, along with people from neighbouring buildings, minutes before the building collapsed.

Colonel Ahmed  AL Sayeq, deputy director of Dubai Civil Defense, said the neighbouring buildings were evacuated for fear that water leakage in the ground may have caused the collapse.

 The Acting Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police, Major-General Khamis Mattar Al Mazina, said Hazaa Contracting and Bait Al Emarat Engineering Consultants, the building’s developers, will be investigated in coordination with Dubai Municipality.

Marwan Abdullah, head of Building Licensing Unit, Dubai Municipality, said that a team of experts were examining the site.

“We felt tremors and looked outside and saw something like smoke,” said Ishraq Hibib, 17, who lives in Yasmeen building, about 100m from the site .

 Ali Hassan, another resident in the area, said, “While I was having lunch I heard a noise and I thought that it was an earthquake. We saw cars under the concrete and glass that covered them.”

Office workers in the area also thought an earthquake had occurred.

“I’m about 400m away. I experienced a jerk in our building and thought it was an earthquake,” said Zainudheen Parissery.

Conclusion from what I have read from the web:

The collapse of the Deira building was found to be caused by faults in its design, engineering and building materials. The investigation had a three pronged approach, focusing on design, engineering and the building material used, as well as some other aspects such as whether there was ground water beneath the building. There were faults found in all three of the categories; there was an engineering fault, misuse of building materials, and the structure of the building was found to be weak. That is evident from the fact that the building collapsed on itself from its middle. the one to blame is the company which build it in general and the project manager, contractor and engineers in specific since they didn't check the design for any fault prior of construction, and checking the materials if they where good and strong enough to hold the building while building it.  the reason for such act is still unknown if it was due to shortage in money or in time, but what is known is that not checking the construction design and material used is considered unethical whatsoever the reason is, since an unsafe building is hazardous to the lives of it residents and its surroundings.