A Brief Report of Hotel Collapse Causing Casualties in Suzhou, China

Abstract

The collapse of a 30-year-old hotel building in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province on 12 July 2021 raised legitimate questions about the identification of old buildings’ condition and risks stemming from remedial operations. This short communication reports and investigates the causes of this accident, which led to 17 deaths and 5 injuries. Subsequently, it describes the rescue actions undertaken, including logistic means, operational strategies, and procedure sequencing. The causes of the accident were attributed to: (i) the poor quality and fragility of the building, (ii) illegal renovations and extensions, as well as (iii) the laxism of relevant departments that failed to timely check the risk level of the building before these renovations. Thanks to efficient organization and management, the rescue operations were completed within 42 h. Based on this preliminary analysis, some recommendations are proposed to prevent similar incidents in the future.

A Brief Report on the Collapse of Self-Built Houses on 29 April 2022, in Changsha, China

“…Strengthen the management of each design aspect of construction projects; b. Strengthen the review and evaluation of construction enterprise qualifications; c. Strengthen the management of construction materials; d. Accelerate the establishment and improvement of construction quality management system; e. Increase the supervision of quality management [33,34].…”