Au moins quatre personnes ont trouvé la mort dans l’effondrement jeudi avant l’aube des douze étages de ce complexe donnant sur l’océan, où les recherches se poursuivent jour et nuit en quête de survivants.  

Cette « enquête de terrain » avait été réalisée par un cabinet d’experts il y a environ trois ans, en octobre 2018.

« L’imperméabilisation sous les abords de la piscine et la voie d’accès pour les véhicules, […] It exceeds its useful life and therefore must be completely removed and replaced,” consultant Frank Morabito, president of Morabito Consultants, wrote in this document.

“False waterproofing caused significant structural damage to the structural concrete slabs under these areas,” he said at the time.

He also said, “Failure to replace the waterproofing in the near future will greatly expand the extent of concrete deterioration,” without mentioning any risk of collapse.

The study included many photos, some of them in the parking lot of the building.

Frank Morabito wrote: “Cracks and crusts of varying degrees have been observed in columns, beams, and concrete walls.” “While some of the damage is minor, most of the damage needs to be repaired in a timely manner.”

Questions about the causes of this extremely rare tragedy have multiplied in recent days, and the investigation is likely to continue for several months.

Attention has so far been focused on a more recent report dating to 2020, which showed that this building had subsided in the 1990s, at a rate of 2 mm per year between 1993 and 1999.

But one of the study’s authors, Shimon Wudinsky, a professor at Florida International University (FIU), told CNN he didn’t know “if the collapse was expected.”

This year, the building entered the certification process that must take place every 40 years in this hurricane-prone region. In this context, development work was underway on the surface, but the authorities seem to rule out that this caused the tragedy.