Collapse of the Space building: history of the decision that saved 22 families - Medellín - Colombia

In October 2013, at the age of 35, Jaime Enrique Gómez Zapata made a decision that changed his life and that of 22 families. Faced with the imminence of what would be a tragedy, he ordered the immediate evacuation of a building that, 34 hours later, collapsed. This is his story.

(Also read: Ex-participant of the ‘Challenge’ tells how he experienced the collapse of the Space building)

Jaime Enrique is a geologist. He knows very well the risks inherent to our geography. He has a specialization in prevention and response to natural disasters and a master’s degree in risk management and the environment. He began his career as an intern at the Medellín Municipal Disaster Prevention and Attention System (SIMPAD), which, years later, after the issuance of Law 1523 of 2012, became the Disaster Risk Management Administrative Department. (DAGRD). There he dedicated himself to visiting districts of Medellin and working on the prevention of mass movementsthe main threatening phenomenon in this mountainous area of ​​the country.

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In 2008, after facing several emergencies due to rains -Jaime especially remembers the one in the El Socorro neighborhood, where 27 people died due to the magnitude of a landslide, as well as the tragedy in the Alto Verde urbanization, in the El Poblado neighborhood, where a landslide fell on six homes-, the capital of Antioquia declared a manifest emergency, in order to improve its response capacity in these situations, and for this it hired a team of engineers and geologists.

Jaime became a kind of mentor and taught them how to function in the field: he explained how to carry out risk inspections and what they should take into account during their visits. Thus, he soon took on a leadership role and in 2010 he became SIMPAD’s operational coordinator. Two years later he was appointed as deputy director of knowledge and risk reduction of the DAGRD, a position he held until the end of 2019.

Precisely, in that position he faced what, according to him, has been one of his greatest professional challenges to date.

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Currently, Jaime Enrique Gómez is director of the Administrative Department of Risk Management of Antioquia (DAGRAN).

The tragedy

Saturday, October 12, 2013. Tower 6 of the Space, a building located within a complex of apartments in the El Poblado neighborhood, in Medellín, collapsed around 7 at night. Tons of concrete went to the floor in a matter of minutes. At that time, Jaime was at his house, about to go out to eat with his wife and some of his friends. His phone started to ring. A wave of calls and messages confirmed what he knew the day before would happen sooner or later: Tower 6 of Space had collapsed, built six years ago by the Lérida CDO firm.

It wasn’t a hunch or a whimsical suspicion. It was the opinion of his expertise in risk management.

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Carlos Gil, the then director of the DAGRD, was on vacation and Jaime, as deputy director, took over as director in charge. That Friday morning, Jaime says, a call came to the 123 emergency line, in which “An elderly woman reported that the building had shaken, that it had sounded very hard, and that one of the walls of her apartment had cracked.”

The notice reached the office that the geologist was in charge of at the time. Jaime had a bad feeling, since it was an exclusive sector of Medellin where buildings do not usually present this type of complication. Immediately, he left the office for Space accompanied by three engineers from the mayor’s office and a team of firefighters to carry out the inspection.

This is what the building area looked like hours after the collapse, on Saturday, October 12, 2013.

Photo:

John Lopez. Archive THE TIME

“We arrived at the site. We spoke with the engineers (of the construction company) and they told us that there was no risk. The representatives of the construction company said the same thing, that there was no risk. That it was a punctual damage and they were going to solve it, ”he recalls.

However, the inspection ruled out that hypothesis. “We started to do a tour of the building and we saw some dangerous conditions in the structure. For example, the building looked tilted, we saw bent windows and cracks in the walls. And there we said: ‘something is happening here’”.

Jaime remembers the exact moment when he made the decision to order the evacuation.

With the inspection teams he had arrived at an apartment on the fourth floor. From the ninth floor downwards, the deterioration was progressive in the structure and its common areas, but at that point they showed an alarming signal: “there was a column with a crack due to compression failure, that is, the column was supporting more weight than it could ”.

(Other news from the country: Landslide in Manizales leaves 4 injured and 10 homes destroyed)

The geologist narrates that image with the precision of what is recorded in memory. “A part of the column was outside, in the corridor. And the other towards the interior of the apartment, in the kitchen. We checked it and realized that it was releasing a kind of dust, which indicated that the structure was in movement”.

For that moment there was only one certainty in his head: it was urgent to evacuate the building.

And despite the fact that construction officials continued to express their disagreement, Jaime and the inspection team met with the residents and told them they had to get out of there. “At no time did I doubt the decision I made,” he says.

The residential building had 24 floors and was located in the exclusive El Poblado sector of Medellín.

Photo:

John Lopez. Archive THE TIME

We checked the column and realized that it was releasing a kind of dust, which indicated that the structure was in movement

The recommendation was to evacuate tower 6 in its entirety. It was risky to be there, as there were clear signs that it could collapse. It was explained to the residents that they had to take out what was necessary and agree with the construction company on their place of stay for that night and the following ones. The community complied with the order. The versions that denied the risk of collapse, fortunately, did not persuade them.

That night, when they arrived at the building to issue the order that the authorities had issued hours earlier to the permanence to prohibit entry to the structure, the police officers realized that there was no one inside. The 22 resident families had left on time.

However, the calm was not complete.

At the time of the collapse, 12 people were in Tower 6 of Space. The rescue of their bodies ended 10 days after the tragedy. The investigation into the death of 11 of the victims (10 workers and a security guard) concluded in September 2014, after the construction company and the families reached a compensation agreement. And in the remaining case, that of a young man who was in the parking area, in 2019 the Supreme Court of Justice acquitted and ordered the release of Pablo Villegas Mesa, María Cecilia Posada Grisales and Jorge de Jesús Aristizábal Ochoa, former directors of the construction company. Lleida CDO, who had been convicted in that case.

In this regard, Jaime comments that the workers, for example, were aware of the restriction. “They were failing to comply with the recommendation that no work of any kind could be carried out until a safe plan was presented.”

On the Space lot, last October the news of the registration of the lot of almost 11,000 square meters where the building was built was knownwhich would allow it to be put up for sale and thus recover part of the money lost by those affected, who, in addition to spending years paying the bills for an uninhabited building, have reported breaches by the construction company.

(In context: Sell the lot, last hope of reparation for those affected by Space)

This is what the debris from the Space building looked like two days after the collapse.

Photo:

William Bear. Archive THE TIME

A decision that saved lives

After the tragedy, the mayor of Medellín asked the Faculty of Engineering of the Universidad de los Andes to issue its opinion on this case, which was key in the subsequent process. In the opinion of the specialists of that institution, if it had been designed in compliance with all the applicable requirements of Law 400 of 1997, the structure of the building “would not have manifested the collapse it presented under the imposed conditions.”

The building did have problems of differential settlements, which were intervened in August 2013. But the structure still had notable flaws.

When he talks about this episode, Jaime’s voice fills with pride. He makes it clear, however, that he doesn’t feel like a hero or anything like that. He acknowledges that his decision saved the lives of many people, but emphasizes: “we were just doing our job”.

In fact, he says that just last year he really measured the work they did that Friday in 2013. It was in June, when the world’s news reported that a 12-story building had collapsed in Surfside, Florida (United States), in the middle of at night while its inhabitants slept, causing the death of 98 people.

For Jaime it was inevitable to think about Space. “We saved many people’s lives,” he says today, almost nine years later, remarkably moved.

(Keep reading: Miami, Space and tragic building collapses around the world)

At the moment, he is director of the Administrative Department of Risk Management of Antioquia (DAGRAN), a dependency that works in that department designing strategies and programs aimed at risk reduction and disaster management. And he says he continues with the same motivation of his first day as an intern at SIMPAD, the one that also accompanied him to overcome the emergency in the Space building: to serve others.

WILLIAM MORENO HERNANDEZ
ELTIEMPO.COM journalist
On twitter: @williammoher

Biden Believes Putin Has Made Decision to Invade Ukraine

WHITE HOUSE — 

U.S. President Joe Biden says Russian President Vladimir Putin has made up his mind to invade Ukraine.

“I’m convinced he’s made the decision. We have reason to believe that,” Biden said during remarks from the White House on Friday afternoon.

Earlier in the day, the Russian military announced that Saturday it will hold massive drills of its strategic nuclear forces, which Putin will personally oversee. However, Biden said he doesn’t believe Putin is seriously contemplating the use of nuclear weapons.

Biden called out the shelling of a kindergarten by Russian-backed fighters in the Donbas region, which Moscow said was carried out by Ukraine. He pointed out other disinformation he said Moscow was peddling to the public, including claims of a genocide in Donbas and a Ukrainian attack on Russia.

“All these are consistent with the playbook the Russians have used before to set up a false justification to act against Ukraine,” Biden said. For weeks his administration has warned of such pretext scenarios and “false flag operations.”

Should Moscow invade Ukraine, it will be critical for the United States to convince the world that Russia is the aggressor and that it did so unprovoked, Max Bergmann, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, told VOA.

“This was a master class from the Biden administration in how to win an information war with Russia,” Bergmann said. “The Biden administration has read the Kremlin playbook and they are exposing Russian disinformation as they come across it.”

However, Biden is still offering Putin a de-escalation off-ramp, saying that diplomacy is “always a possibility.” He said, based on the “significant intelligence capability” of the U.S., he has reason to believe Putin will still consider the diplomatic option.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to meet in person with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Feb. 24.

Meanwhile Washington and its allies are analyzing a document that the Kremlin delivered to U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan in Moscow. It is Russia’s written response to the recent U.S. and NATO offer to negotiate over their missile deployment and troop exercises in Europe while rejecting Russia’s demands related to possible Ukrainian membership in NATO.

Russian cyberattacks

During a White House briefing Friday, Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology, said for the first time that the U.S. believes Moscow was responsible for recent so-called DDoS cyberattacks on Ukraine.

“We believe that the Russian government is responsible for widescale cyberattacks on Ukrainian banks this week,” Neuberger said. “We have technical information that links the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate, or GRU, as known GRU infrastructure was seen transmitting high volumes of communication to Ukraine-based IP addresses and domains.

“This recent spate of cyberattacks in Ukraine are consistent with what a Russian effort would look like and laying the groundwork for more disruptive cyberattacks accompanying a potential further invasion of Ukraine sovereign territory,” she added.

While noting there are no specific threats on the U.S. homeland at this point, Neuberger warned that administration officials are bracing for any Russian cyberattacks on American targets following the imposition of sanctions on Moscow.

The U.S. is “taking the necessary actions to prepare and harden potential U.S. targets against what might come next,” said Nina Jankowicz, a global fellow who studies disinformation and cybersecurity at the Wilson Center. She spoke to VOA.

Talks with European allies

Biden delivered his remarks after his latest round of urgent talks with European leaders and a call with a bipartisan group of members of Congress who are representing the United States, along with Vice President Kamala Harris, at the Munich Security Conference on the Ukraine crisis.

“Despite Russia’s efforts to divide us at home and abroad, I can affirm that has not happened,” Biden said. “The overwhelming message on both calls was one of determination and resolve.”

However, there are differences among allies on the timing and severity of sanctions against Moscow. For example, the initial package will likely not include banning Russia from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) system used by 200 countries to handle international financial transfers.

“We have other severe measures we can take that our allies and partners are ready to take in lockstep with us, and that don’t have the same spillover effects,” said Daleep Singh, the deputy national security adviser for international economics, who spoke to reporters during the same White House briefing Friday. “But we always will monitor these options and we’ll revise our judgments as time goes on.”

Singh said U.S. measures are not designed to reduce Russia’s ability to supply energy to the world but that it would be “a strategic mistake” for Putin to retaliate against Western sanctions by cutting back energy supplies to Europe.

“Two-thirds of Russia’s exports and half of its budget revenues come from oil and gas, and if Putin were to weaponize his energy supply, it will only accelerate the diversification of the world away from Russian energy consumption,” he said.

Singh added Moscow would be unable to replace technology imports from other countries, including China, if Washington also imposes tough export controls that it has threatened.

Call for de-escalation

Meanwhile U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called for a de-escalation of the Ukraine crisis in a telephone conversation Friday with his Russian counterpart, according to the Pentagon.

“Austin called for de-escalation, the return of Russian forces surrounding Ukraine to their home bases, and a diplomatic resolution,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a statement.

Putin said Friday the situation in eastern Ukraine was getting worse a day after Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed rebels traded accusations of firing across a cease-fire line.

“Right now, we are seeing deterioration of the situation” in eastern Ukraine, Putin said at a Moscow news conference with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, after discussing their joint military drills in Belarus near Ukraine.

Also Friday the leaders of Russian-backed separatists in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of eastern Ukraine announced the evacuation of civilians to Russia to “avoid civilian casualties.”

Putin has ordered his emergencies minister to travel to the region to help plan for the arrival of the evacuees.

Decision on Iran Nuclear Deal Days Away; Ball in Tehran's court

France on Wednesday said a decision on salvaging Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers was just days away and that it was now up to Tehran to make the political choice.

Indirect talks between Iran and the United States on reviving the tattered agreement resumed last week after a 10-day hiatus and officials from the other parties to the accord – Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia – have shuttled between the two sides as they seek to close gaps.

Western diplomats previously indicated they hoped to have a breakthrough by now, but tough issues remain unresolved. Iran has rejected any deadline imposed by Western powers.

“We have reached tipping point now. It’s not a matter of weeks, it’s a matter of days,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told parliament, adding that the Western powers, Russia and China were in accord on the outlines of the accord.
“Political decisions are needed from the Iranians. Either they trigger a serious crisis in the coming days, or they accept the agreement which respects the interests of all parties.”

Several other sources tracking the talks said that the next couple of days would be crucial in determining whether there was a way to revive the agreement.

The agreement began to unravel in 2018 when then-President Donald Trump withdrew the United States and reimposed broad economic sanctions on Iran, which then began breaching the deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment activity a year later.

Diplomats and analysts say the longer Iran remains outside the deal, the more nuclear expertise it will gain, shortening the time it might need to race to build a bomb if it chose to, thereby vitiating the accord’s original purpose. Tehran denies it has ever sought to develop nuclear arms.

Western diplomats say they are now in the final phase of the talks and believe that a deal is within reach.

‘Moment of Truth’

“We are coming to the moment of truth. If we want Iran to respect its (nuclear) non-proliferation commitments and in exchange for the United States to lift sanctions, there has to be something left to do it,” Le Drian said.

Iran’s foreign ministry said on Monday it was “in a hurry” to strike a new deal as long as its national interests were protected and that restoring the pact required “political decisions by the West.”

Ali Shamkhani, hardline secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, underlined Iranian wariness by saying on Wednesday that the 2015 accord had become economically worthless for Iran and he blamed the United States and European powers.

“The United States and Europe failed to meet their obligations under the (deal). The deal has now become an empty shell for Iran in the economic sphere and the lifting of sanctions. There will be no negotiations beyond the nuclear deal with a non-compliant America and a passive Europe,” he tweeted.

China’s envoy to the talks said on Wednesday Iran was being constructive by putting everything on the table in response to U.S. approaches. “They have not only adopted this straightforward approach but also made a political decision based on give and take,” Wang Qun told Reuters.

Bones of contention remain Iran’s demand for a U.S. guarantee of no more sanctions or other punitive steps in future, and how and when to restore verifiable restrictions on Tehran’s nuclear activity.

The agreement curbed Iran’s enrichment of uranium to make it harder for Tehran to develop material for nuclear weapons, in return for a lifting of international sanctions.

The Islamic Republic has since rebuilt stockpiles of enriched uranium, refining it to higher fissile purity, close to weapons-grade, and installed advanced centrifuges to speed up enrichment.

Despite Reports, No Decision on Tom Brady Retirement, Sources Say

TAMPA, FLA. — 

Despite reports that he is retiring, Brady has told the Tampa Bay Buccaneers he hasn’t made up his mind, two people familiar with the details told The Associated Press.

It’s not known when he’ll make an announcement, leaving his team guessing and fans hoping for one more run that seems unlikely considering his age and family obligations.

ESPN first reported Brady’s retirement on Saturday, citing unidentified sources. Brady’s company posted a tweet indicating he’s retiring, and reaction came from around the world congratulating Brady on his career. Even the NFL’s Twitter account posted a series of congratulatory messages.

But TB12sports deleted its tweet, and Brady’s agent, Don Yee, said the 44-year-old quarterback would be the only person to accurately express his future.

Sources: No decision

Brady informed Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht he has not made a decision, according to two people who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because of the private nature of the conversations.

Brady’s father, Tom Brady Sr., told multiple reporters that his son hasn’t made a firm decision yet.

A seven-time Super Bowl champion and the NFL’s career leader in numerous passing categories, Brady is under contract for 2022, but he has cited a desire to spend more time with his wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, and three children.

After ESPN’s report, TB12sports’ Twitter account posted: “7 Super Bowl Rings. 5 Super Bowl MVPs. 3 League MVP Awards. 22 Incredible Seasons. Thank you for it all, @TomBrady.”

That post was removed, and Yee released this statement: “I understand the advance speculation about Tom’s future. Without getting into the accuracy or inaccuracy of what’s being reported, Tom will be the only person to express his plans with complete accuracy. He knows the realities of the football business and planning calendar as well as anybody, so that should be soon.”

Seven Super Bowls

Brady led the NFL in yards passing (5,316), touchdowns (43), completions (485) and attempts (719), but the Buccaneers lost at home to the Rams last Sunday in the divisional round.

Brady won six Super Bowls with the New England Patriots in 20 seasons playing for coach Bill Belichick. He joined the Buccaneers in 2020 and led them to the second Super Bowl title in franchise history.

Brady would leave the sport as the career leader in yards passing (84,520) and TDs (624). He’s the only player to win more than five Super Bowls and was MVP of the game five times.