Source-The New York Times-
At least 37 people died on Tuesday after a highway bridge collapsed in Genoa, Italy, raising concerns about the country’s aging infrastructure.
The bridge’s failure sent vehicles, concrete and steel raining down onto buildings, streets and railroad tracks below. The cause of the collapse was unclear, but a government official noted that the bridge had shown signs of problems in the past.
Here is a look at historical infrastructure collapses — including bridges, buildings and dams — that have killed thousands since the early 20th century. Each disaster resulted in investigations into whether the structure was built properly.
1907: Quebec Bridge Collapses, and Not for the Last Time
A section of a newly built bridge in Quebec, Canada, collapsed into the St. Lawrence River on Aug. 29, 1907. It threw scores of bridge workers and mechanics into the river and killed at least 80 people.
The disaster occurred just as the whistle blew for the workers to quit for the day, when a section of the mile-and-a-half-long bridge crumpled and caused a chain reaction of breaking girders and cables. A report later blamed the bridge’s engineers.
As the bridge was being reconstructed in 1916, the structure collapsed again as it was being hoisted into place, killing 13 workers. “Caught in the swirl of the raging flood, the hundreds of ranch houses that once dotted the canyon were crushed like egg shells and their inhabitants in most instances swept to their doom,” The New York Times reported. Read more
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