ed Another man-made disaster
Another tragedy caused by indifference to safety standards. Once again an accident could have been avoided if only people had paid more attention.
On Monday night, the roof of an auditorium at a mountain resort near the southern city of Gyeongju collapsed, apparently under the weight of heavy snow, killing 10 people and injuring more than 100. Most of the victims were recently enrolled freshmen of Busan University of Foreign Studies who were taking part in a freshmen orientation.
More than 500 students had gathered at the auditorium, part of the Manua Ocean Resort owned by Kolon Group, to attend a concert in the building when the roof caved in. Fire officials blamed the accumulated weight of the snow piled on the roof of the auditorium, which has also been used as a gymnasium, for the accident.
In fact, Gyeongju, a popular tourism spot, had more than 50 centimeters of snowfall in the last week, which meant the roof had to stand up to the weight of at least 150 tons of snow. The impending danger could have been fully anticipated because safety concerns were higher than ever before due to the unprecedented heavy snow, but the resort operator, an affiliate of Kolon, nonchalantly allowed the students to hold the event without first removing the snow on the roof.
But the safety of the resort auditorium had already been questioned because it was a weight-vulnerable prefab built with sandwich panels and having no supporting pillars. Even more surprising is that similar mishaps had already occurred in Ulsan and other nearby cities as a warning signal. We are at a loss for words for the repetition of man-made disasters in this country, which has already earned the shameful nickname of the ``republic of accidents.’’
Furthermore, the gymnasium had not undergone any safety checks since it was built in 2009 because related safety regulations only require state-authorized checks for auditoriums larger than 5,000 square meters. Officials at the resort certainly have no one to blame but themselves.
What’s urgently needed is for the Ministry of Security and Public Administration to conduct safety checks on all structures across the nation built with similar construction methods.
President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday called for a thorough investigation into the tragic accident, and law enforcement agencies launched teams to find out what caused the accident. If the auditorium was the result of shoddy construction, all those responsible should be punished harshly.
Needless to say, the government ought to overhaul safety standards for public facilities in tandem with climate change.