6,000 Complaints ... Then the Quake: The Scandal Behind Mexico City’s 225 Dead Martha Pskowski and David Adler - The Guardian | |
go to original October 13, 2017 |
Years of corruption revealed in Mexico's quake aftermath (France 24 English)
Many of the buildings that collapsed in the earthquake that killed 225 people in Mexico City last month were the subject of citizen complaints about safety, a Guardian Cities investigation can reveal.
Since 2012, the residents of Mexico City have lodged nearly 6,000 complaints about construction project violations, with no public record of how many were followed up.
Many of the buildings in question subsequently collapsed in the 19 September earthquake, which was notable for the high number of new or recently remodeled buildings that suffered surprising damage.
In 2016 alone, Mexico City residents lodged 1,271 complaints about violations of zoning or land use ordinances with the Environmental and Zoning Prosecutor’s Office (Procuraduría Ambiental y del Ordenamiento Territorial, PAOT), the city watchdog for environmental and building compliance.
More than 44 buildings were destroyed in the earthquake, and another 3,000 were evacuated, but residents and advocacy organizations say the city government did not heed the vast majority of complaints.
“I have not seen a single sanction,” says Josefina MacGregor of Suma Urbana, a group of neighborhood associations in Mexico City. “Facing pressure from citizens, the government will sometimes say that they are going to sanction the developers [for building violations]. But it’s not true.”
Read the rest at The Guardian
Related: ‘False’ Quake Victims Surface in Census: 4,000 People Who 'Had No Right to be There' Removed from List (http://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/false-quake-victims-surface-in-census/)
Related: Everyday Folks Are the Anonymous Heroes Following to the Mexican Earthquake (KYT24)
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