The slightest calculation error made during the construction of buildings can cause people to lose their lives. That terrible day at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on July 17, 1981 was one of the events that occurred as a result of these mistakes.
With the technological developments, buildings can now be constructed in an extremely robust manner. Mathematics and marvel of engineering Among the things that make the structures that are as durable as today are the things learned from the mistakes made as much as the technology. its share is quite high.
Here’s Kansas City’s target to become a center of attraction at the Hyatt Regency What happened was an example of just that. Unfortunately hundreds of people died however, the same mistake was not made in similar structures built later. Let’s take a closer look at what happened at the Hyatt Regency on July 17, 1981.
Hyatt Regency has accomplished more than expected in a short time.
The Hyatt Regency Hotel opened in 1980 in the Crown Center, which is considered one of Kansas City’s most important buildings. The purpose of the hotel is to add to the luxury environment of the Crown Center and at the same time to make the complex Kansas City’s Attraction point was to become.
Hotel; With its revolving roof restaurant, large lobby and exhibition hall, it managed to become a popular place of high society in a short time. One of the most interesting aspects of the hotel is the four-story building above the lobby, which was a novelty for that time. were walking paths.
From the first day it opened, visitors have enjoyed the afternoon activities at the hotel. tea dance parties started to participate. So many visitors and attention in such a short time was seen as a great success.
After a better-than-expected year, on July 17, 1981, a tea dance party was being held at the hotel again.
It could be called an ordinary day for both hotel officials and participants. But who knew that this ordinary day would turn into a disaster?
That day more than 1,600 people gathered at the hotel. While the dancers danced and had fun in the hotel lobby, some of the people were watching down the walkways. Unexpectedly, two of these walkways, connected to each other, collapsed and 114 people diedMore than 200 people were injured.
So what was the main reason why the walkways collapsed?
As we mentioned above, the hotel lobby had elevated multi-level walkways hanging from the ceiling. Steel, glass and from concrete The second and fourth floors of the walkways were directly connected to each other. Also, the length of the paths about 37 meters, weight and it was about 29.000 kg.
One of the biggest reasons for the incident that took place on the evening of 17 July 1981 was the approximate location of the walkway on the fourth floor. Couldn’t carry 40-50 people it was.
According to survivors or witnesses, a few minutes before the fourth-floor road collapsed, guests popping and loud crackling sounds heard. Authorities, on the other hand, did not give enough warnings about the noises or that the walkways could not bear the weight.
The fourth floor, first to the second floor, then the two of them fell into the lobby. rescue operation It took exactly 14 hours. Fire crews had a hard time lifting tons of steel, concrete and glass walkways. Therefore, cranes and jacks were brought from various places, especially from construction companies. The teams had to deal with the water circulating due to the power outage and the activation of the hotel’s sprinkler system.
Perhaps the most crucial part of this event is to reach people who are under tons of weight. corpses were dismembered. The dead were moved to the showroom on the ground floor of the hotel by setting up a makeshift morgue, and the hotel’s driveway and lawn began to be used as a treatment area.
After 14 hours, approximately 30 people alive As a result, it was pulled from the rubble, but there was a bigger problem at the root of this incident, in which hundreds of people died.
Small change in design caused huge problems
The lawsuit filed after the incident continued for years. For years, the authorities investigated the cause of the incident and eventually found that the cause of the disaster may have been caused by the walking paths. weight capacity Besides the design flaw turned out to be.
According to the original plan, the walkway on the second floor is directly under the ceiling. steel hanger bar was connecting. However, the company that produced the rods suggested that part of the second floor should be connected directly to the ceiling and some to the fourth floor due to the problems that may occur during the hanging. well The fourth floor will both support itself and support the second floor. would be.
This seemingly simple change, which had a critical impact on building security, was a disaster. After the lawsuit, the license of the engineering firm that planned the walkways was revoked and Hyatt Regency gave the victims an approximation. $140 million compensation paid.
The Hyatt Regency Hotel started to serve again three months after the incident. The name of the hotel was in 2011. Sheraton Kansas City and continues to serve with the same design today.
resources: mathematical.org, The Horror Report, KansasCity