Shakey's outside wall area at Robinsons coming apart

Its not just the outer shelling that has cracked but the entire column is unstable and breaking up. I'm not sure u can see now but looking before at the cracks at right spot you could see the entire inside is unstable and dislodged. The entire column and section has to be torn out and redone and to do that properly would take a week and require a good section of the mall to be shut off for safety because of cracks radiating out on the 2nd level from that area as well.

I take it that Robinsons doesn't want to upset its tenants in that area or lose a weeks business to fix it yet and keep trying to find options to stay open and just patch.

 

One word: finishing. The magic cure all in this part of the world. Throw some cement/sand mixture on it, smooth it off and voila, all fixed.

 

I'm not an engineer, though, reading between the lines, you are saying: better stay off Rmall. In the event one still wish to visit that place better ask your Life Insurance company in advance, that in case of deceased by a tumbling wall of the mall, they still will pay the total sum to your beloved ones..

 

I don't think so.... Have you tried an Insurance company here? You are on your own. It's the same as anywhere. They will try anything to get out of paying what they owe.

 

Ur right .........and ..........repairs do not happen fast at Robinson's Sailor24

 

Maybe they can make a couple support columns out of stacking the crappy pizza there, as a temporary fix.

 

The entire Robinson's Mall complex was built on very soft land (old swamp, apparently). I was told they had several delays trying to find solutions in order to support the structure. Obviously, their solutions didn't work. Although the crack in the exterior wall appeared after the earthquake, I am pretty sure there was a lot of induced stress in that area prior to the quake. If you look at the exterior wall at the rear of the mall, near the stairway between LBC and the mall, you will see that there is a 2 inch cement filler, horizontally along the wall, where they had to patch up after the underlying structure actually sank. There were several small sink holes in the paving blocks in the rear of the building also (which is why they are re-doing the entire rear area), about a foot or two deep. Also, ever since the mall opened tiles would invariably pop up, especially on the second floor (as well as wall tiles in the washrooms as mentionned earlier) indicating the building flexing as it settles unevenly. I have been tell friends for 2 years now that I wouldn't be surprised if there was a major disaster in the mall. Unfortunately, if it does happen, it will probably be when the mall is full of people.

 

........ and with 3 of the 4 doors at each entrance closed and locked, it's a disaster waiting to happen.

 

If I am in there when something happens, there will be a new door installed!

Larry