TheCivilEngineer.org

Bangkok Tragedy Sparks Urgent Call for Safer Structures

On March 28, 2025, a 30-storey government building in Bangkok collapsed following a powerful earthquake, prompting an ongoing emergency response led by rescue authorities. The affected structure, ho...

George Collapse Tragedy Final Report: A Grim Reminder of Regulatory Lapses in Construction

In May 2024, the collapse of a five-story residential development in George, South Africa, marked one of the country's most devastating construction failures, resulting in the loss of 34 lives. Inve...

Asbestos: The Silent Killer That Still Threatens Communities Worldwide

Despite being banned or heavily regulated in many parts of the world, asbestos remains a dangerous and often overlooked threat. Recent reports from Japan and Gaza serve as grim reminders that asbesto...

Davenport’s Building Collapse: Failures, Secrets, and Lessons

On May 28, 2023, a quiet Sunday afternoon in Davenport, Iowa, was shattered when the rear wall of a six-story apartment building gave way, causing a catastrophic collapse that claimed three lives and...

When Ceilings Fall: Jet Set Nightclub Collapse Kills 225 in Dominican Republic

On April 8, 2025, the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, became the site of a devastating structural collapse during a merengue concert. The tragedy, which occurred in seconds, h...

Tragedy in Asturias: Five Miners Killed in Cerredo Coal Mine Explosion

Spain’s mining heartland was shaken on March 31, 2025, when a powerful explosion at the Cerredo coal mine in Degana, Asturias, claimed the lives of five miners and injured four others. The blast occu...

How California’s Retrofit Ordinances Are Reshaping Seismic Engineering

It’s one thing to follow a checklist. It’s another to deeply understand how a structure behaves when the ground begins to shake. California’s seismic story is full of lessons—from collapsed unreinfor...

Myanmar’s Earthquake to Bangkok’s Collapse: Anatomy of a Skyscraper Disaster

In the wake of a powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake centered nearly 1,000 kilometers away in Myanmar, Bangkok is grappling with the catastrophic collapse of a high-rise building still under constructi...

Civil Engineering News Recap of March 2025

You can now find TheCivilEngineer.org's latest news recap video on YouTube, which includes what we found to be the most interesting civil engineering news of March 2025. Namely, these were: 1) Hydro...

After the Recent NTSB Report: 68 U.S. Bridges Now Flagged for Collapse Risk

When the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore catastrophically collapsed in March 2024 after being struck by a cargo ship, it didn’t just send concrete tumbling into the Patapsco River—it also shook...