Falling building Santos in Brazil

• Falling Building Santos Brazil

The coastline along the town of Santos, about 80 km from Sao Paulo in Brazil, offers a strange kind. Like dominoes gonna fall down, on the waterfront facing a number of high-rise buildings, is clearly inclined to one side.

Many people know about the famous Leaning Tower, but few people know that in Brazil there is a whole block of buildings. The problem lies in the soil Santos. Under the seven-meter layer of sand is a slippery layer of clay 30-40 meters depth, which can not cope with the weight of the structures and high-rise buildings.

Prior to 1968, local building codes did not exist no restrictions on the type of building that could be used for multi-storey buildings. Ideally, the foundations of buildings were to reach a framework which in this region is about 50 meters deep. But most of the buildings at the waterfront Santos is the foundation to a depth of 4 or 5 meters. After building began to tilt, the practice of placing tall buildings on small pillars was discontinued, and building codes Santos ordered to use deep foundations for tall buildings.

The aggravating circumstance was the fact that all the buildings close to each other, so that the construction of new houses next to the existing most likely contributed to further subsidence. The proximity of the buildings led to a popular urban legend that the collapse of the building would have caused a chain reaction, bringing down everyone else. Experts deny that such a catastrophe could ever occur, because the buildings tend to collapse vertically.

Surprisingly, people continue to live in these apartments. Although they constantly have to deal with everyday problems, such as uneven furniture, rolling round objects and the inability to completely fill a cup of coffee.

On the whole, there are about a hundred buildings that lean at scary angles. There have been several years ago, an effort to straighten out some of them, but the high cost put an end to these plans. Only one building Nuncio Malzoni be aligned. It cost the city $ 1.5 million.

While residents and learned to cope with the situation, the main problem they face is the devaluation of property. condominium prices fell sharply after the slope became visible to the naked eye many years ago.