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1995 On June 29, 1995, after a loud bang, the Sanfeng Department Store, the most famous and magnificent Sanfeng Department Store, collapsed, and within 20 seconds, the five-story department store was razed to the ground and collapsed layer by layer to the fourth floor underground.
Some people were crushed to death and some could not escape, resulting in 502 deaths and 937 injuries, making it the second worst building collapse accident in the world. This accident has also become an eternal pain in the hearts of Koreans.
Sanfeng Department Store was originally a landfill in Seoul, but after it was built in 1989 and opened in 1990, it became a symbol of progress and prosperity, attracting nearly 40,000 people every day.
At that time, his location was the prime location of Seocho District, Seoul. It can be said that it is the pride of Korean people and the most famous landmark in the country. Who knew that the department store that had been in full swing for six years at that time would suddenly collapse within 20 seconds, taking away hundreds of lives. Why did this building, which was considered a miracle of South Korea's economic at that time, become a nightmare in the hearts of the Korean people?
In April 1995, cracks appeared on the ceiling of Sanfeng Department Store's 5th floor. It was not until June 28 that a professional security guard reported the cracks to the facility manager. However, this situation has not been taken seriously by the facility manager, who believes that this is caused by improper mobile air conditioners two years ago.
On the morning of June 29, the crack on the 5th floor continued to expand, and a load-bearing column cracked. A restaurant on the top floor informed the facility manager of this matter and suspended business.
But the reaction of Sanfeng Group Chairman Li Jing and management to the matter was disappointing, and they just transferred the goods stored on the roof to the basement.
Shortly after, Sanfeng Department Store vibrated, but the management believed that this was caused by the vibration of the air conditioner. After turning off the air conditioner, the management of Sanfeng Department Store invited civil engineering experts to inspect the building. However, after experts gave the possible collapse of the building, the management of Sanfeng Department Store did not intend to evacuate customers or close the business immediately. This is because they consider that once they do this, it will have an impact on the company's profits, and then the disaster will come that afternoon.
Starting from 4 pm, the ceiling on the 4th and 5th floor gradually began to sink. At 5:50, the building began to shake violently. Only then did the staff start to evacuate customers, but it was too late. At 6:05, the load-bearing column that had already cracked finally could not support the fracture and collapse. The chain reaction began, and the load-bearing columns began to collapse, and the building collapsed completely.
Afterwards, 502 people died in this tragedy, with the number of disabled people reaching 937. After the incident, the task of investigating the cause of the accident was immediately launched, and under the layers of layers of threads, the cause of the accident slowly surfaced.
First, Sanfeng Department Store was supposed to be an office building, but when the construction was underway, Sanfeng Group Chairman Li Jun changed his mind and redesigned it into a department store. Such changes have led to many load-bearing columns being replaced by escalators, and the original facilities were replaced by Sanfeng Group's own construction company because they refused the new plan. This is one of the reasons. Secondly, it is because of the air conditioner. In 1993, because residents complained that the building's air conditioner was very noisy, the management decided to move the air conditioner apart, but did not use the crane when it was relocated. Instead, a pulley truck was used to push the air conditioner weighing 29 tons, so that the ground where the pulley truck passed was seriously damaged.
Third, the reason for the vibration of the air conditioner was that after filling the air conditioner, the weight of the air conditioner reached 87 tons, the ground cracked, and the load-bearing columns decreased. The floor finally became unsustainable after being shaken by the air conditioner for several years.
The fourth is to cut corners, which became the last straw that broke the back of the building. First of all, the load-bearing column of Sanfeng Department Store does not comply with the 80 cm regulations and is only 60 cm in diameter. There are only 8 steel bars in the load-bearing column, which should have been 16. After further investigation, a total of 21 people were sent to prison, including 12 officials, who were all those who accepted bribes in Sanfeng Department Store's random construction strategy.
, and Li Jing, chairman of Sanfeng Group, was charged with business negligence and was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison, and was later reduced to 7 years. Although the tragedy at Sanfeng Department Store has caused the Korean people to be sad, an exciting miracle has also happened. On the 9th day, the rescue team found Choi Mingxi, a 21-year-old college student, who lived by drinking the rainfall from the cracks of the tiles and eating cardboard beside him. It is sad that a woman encouraged each other a few days ago in the ruins next to him, but unfortunately, she could not stand to die a day ago. However, seventeen days after the collapse of Sanfeng Department Store, the rescue team members began to clean up the wreckage without expectation. The rescue team responsible for operating the forklift heard a faint sound amid the noisy machine sound. He rushed to the place where the sound was made happily, pushed the stone away and crawled in. He saw the face of 19-year-old Park Seung-hyun. She miraculously survived and shocked the whole world.
After this incident, the government has thoroughly investigated the high-rise buildings in South Korea one by one and found that on average, one of the seven high-rise buildings should be rebuilt.
