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I live in Davenport, Iowa, the city where the apartment building collapsed Sunday evening. This is obviously an extreme tragedy and a major loss for those who resided in the building. As of this time there have been no deaths reported and only minor injuries. While I do not know anyone personally affected by this, it does greatly impact the downtown area where I do spend a lot of time.
While I have watched and read the local news coverage I saw and heard many of the expected reactions to this disaster. They range from "Why did the City let this happen given the obvious condition of the building?" to "Why aren't they in there immediately clearing the building and digging for survivors?".
What I also observed is that the "immediate response and recovery" scenarios we see on TV shows really set some unrealistic expectations in the general public.
I will say that I am impressed at how quickly a large number of resources and specialized services were deployed to the scene.
There are 2 major limitations that the rescue and recovery teams are struggling to address. The first is trying to determine which people are missing. It is difficult for them to determine how many people were actually living in which units. In many cases there is one name on the lease but an unknown number of residents in that unit. The biggest problem is trying to determine who was actually in the building when the partial collapse occurred.
The second and even greater limitation is trying to determine the stability of the portion of the building that is still standing. I have seen a few videos and pictures of firefighters in the building but there is a lot of concern about the safety of putting people inside the building. Unlike the rescue TV shows we see, there is no guarantee that a person will be able to outrun the collapsing beam or that it will catch or wedge on 2 other beams before it crushes them. Even breaking out windows from a hook and ladder truck to access an apartment from the outside has its own risks. The comments that do not register well with me are the people calling for the teams to go into the building to rescue any pets left behind.
The latest and current dilemma is deciding when they should begin demolition of the building. The longer it stands the greater chance is that it could collapse more. It is a relatively tall building in a downtown area so there is potential for a lot of collateral damage. On the other hand, how do they confirm that the building is clear?
I have no idea how I would handle making decisions in a situation like this. From my perspective it is a no win situation. You have to determine the course of least negative impacts.
