“Swami Shreeji”
Back in the days, there were many disasters that happened compare to nowadays. The disaster rate has dropped because of the many reasons. One of the main reason why the rate has dropped because the engineering field has developed to another level. The second reason is the engineer’s need for equipment and the other thing has increased. As I mentioned before that the engineering field has developed, I meant to say that it has developed in many ways but the few specifics way is the code of ethics are increasing and getting stronger also the engineer skills and knowledge is improving as the days are passed. As I mentioned before about need of equipment and other thing has increased, I was trying to say that the level of the technology had increased to a position that the highly functional types of equipment are made which is useful to the engineer and the pieces of equipment are getting better and better. So, if you look at the past, there were many disasters because the reasons which I mentioned weren’t there or maybe not powerful enough like today’s one. For this project, I decided to talk about one of the catastrophic case from the past. The case is known as Hyatt Regency walkway collapse.
Let’s discuss and walk through the disaster Hyatt Regency walkway collapse case. The Hyatt Regency is known as the luxury hotels and resorts. The Hyatt Regency is used for many occasions like wedding, vacations, and parties etc. The Hyatt Regency was Kansas City and it was being constructed in May 1978. The hotel was planned and constructed about a 40-story building. The construction was going fast, and it was getting ready but due to the delay and setbacks, the construction got slower. Also, the construction was affected more on October 14, 1979, because of an incident. The atrium roof collapsed because of the not appropriate construction at the north end but finally, the construction team managed everything and finished the construction. The Hyatt Regency gates were open for the public on July 1, 1980. As mentioned before that the hotel is luxury types and it did have many features which were making it different from the other hotel. One of the great feature which had, and it is known for that is the lobby. The walkway of the building was the key factor of the hotel because it was constructed in a great way and it was made with the use of glass, steel, and other materials. The fourth level walkway was directly on top of the second level. It was Friday, July 17, 1981, and people at the hotel were gathered for the tea dance. The tea dance is usually done from 4 pm to 7 pm where you dance, relax and have the best time. There were approximately 1600 people who were having the good time by either watching or participating in the dance but that turn into the worst day of their life. It was around 7:05 pm and the unimagined disaster took place. The two walkways one on the top of other collapsed onto the tea dance which was located at hotel’s lobby. There were many individuals who were enjoying the tea dance from the two of walkways which collapsed. From the tragedy, 114 people were killed, and 216 people were injured. The collapse was the most disastrous in U.S. History because the building had two collapses. The first collapse was during the construction and the second one was when the hotel was in the use. The total time of rescuing the collapse was about 14 hours. There were many emergency rescue team on the site, but they weren’t able to handle everything, so they even asked for the help from volunteers. The rescue team had to face many challenges but one of them is the sprinkler system. The sprinkler system was also broken as a result of the collapse and it was creating more problem for the rescue team because the lobby was flooded. After the investigation, the main reason of collapse was found out and the reason was poor construction and engineers faults. The engineers are responsible for this disaster. The construction of the walkways was completely different from the original design and the change in the design caused this issue. The steel tie rods were the main factor of the poor construction. The rods position and poor construction weren’t capable of holding the walkways. The walkway was connected with the ceiling but not only that the second level walkway was connected underneath the 4th level walkway and that resulted in the heavy load which the rods weren’t capable of. The walkway would have its separate pillar for every level. The case clearly shows the importance of the code of ethics and also how a single mistake can cause a disaster. All in all, the result of the disaster was caused by the lack of elements and other things by the engineer.