engineering

Ma Tau Wai Road building collapse

Ma Tau Wai Road building collapse is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Ma Tau Wai Road building collapse rather than just read about it. In short: On 29 January 2010, a rundown five-storey tong lau residential building at Ma Tau Wai Road of Hong Kong collapsed, killing four and injuring two. The collapse of the building was likely triggered by the renovation of a ground floor shop which disturbed the load-bearing walls.

Key takeaways

Ma Tau Wai Road building collapse belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Ma Tau Wai Road building collapse to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Ma Tau Wai Road building collapse from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

On 29 January 2010, a rundown five-storey tong lau residential building at Ma Tau Wai Road of Hong Kong collapsed, killing four and injuring two. The collapse of the building was likely triggered by the renovation of a ground floor shop which disturbed the load-bearing walls. It was the most serious building collapse in Hong Kong in several decades. The tong lau, including the collapsed and those nearby which were also damaged by the collapse, were later redeveloped.

Background A row of 18 tong lau were built in September 1955, stretching from 43A to 45J of Ma Tau Wai Road, in Hok Yuen of Hung Hom, Kowloon. They were mostly five-storey (with a mezzanine floor) tenement building of reinforced concrete construction. Each floor housed four apartments of around 150 square feet (14 square metres), which in some cases were further partitioned by their owners. The building at 45J, situated at the end of the row, comprised a G/F unit with an approved cockloft over and 1/F to 4/F approved with one flat on each floor for domestic use. Since May 1991, flats in it were sub-divided for rent. Tenants include Chinese immigrants, South Asians, and prostitutes. The Buildings Department had issued numerous order to clear the unauthorised structures on the rooftop and on the ground floor, with one of them in June 2009, but were largely ignored. The department carried out an inspection in November 2009 after receiving complains, and a follow-up in December. At the time of the inspection, the extent of the symptoms did not indicate the gravity of the situation, and no imminent structural danger was noted. On 13 January 2010, weeks before the collapse, the department issued another statutory building repair order, demanding the owners to refurnish the failing concrete walls by July.

Collapse

The tong lau was already decaying and structurally weak at the time of the accident. In the afternoon of 29 January, renovation work was being carried out on the commercial unit located on the ground floor of the building. It is speculated that construction workers had accidentally damaged the load-bearing walls during the unauthorised renovation. The five workers noticed signs of an imminent collapse and rushed out to raise the alarm. Some residents were alerted and left quickly, but others took it as a false alarm as the building looked normal. A couple evacuated seconds before the entire building caved in.

The police received reports that a resident was left stranded on the second floor of the tong lau, and the firefighters rushed to the scene having received an emergency call from a passer-by. Just at their arrival, at around 1:40 p.m., fifteen minutes after the alarm, the building collapsed from the bottom. Within seconds the tong lau turned into debris of two-storey high. Two large holes with bricks and reinforced concrete could be seen on the exterior of the neighbouring 45H tong lau, which was also heavily damaged.Several hundred emergency workers were deployed in the ensuing rescue operation, which had to take place under adjacent buildings that were themselves subject to collapse at any moment. Temporary reinforcements were erected to support and stabilise the remaining structures to give added protection to the rescue teams. An elderly woman, as well as a youth who returned to the building to alert her, were trapped in parts that had not yet collapsed for hours. Two were injured by the debris. Four tenants of 45J tong lau died in the collapse, aged from 20 to 46. They lived on the second or the third floor of the building. Three bodies were found in the evening, and the last on the next day. One of the deaths was a 20-year-old secondary school student who was preparing for the A-Level Examination. Chief Executive Donald Tsang, development minister Carrie Lam, and security minister Ambrose Lee visited the site to inspect the rubble. Residents in the adjoining blocks were subsequently relocated to temporary shelters in the immediate aftermath and then on to interim housing at public estates.

Aftermath The case was the first of its type in several decades. Because this type of building is typical of many over the territory, the tragedy raised new awareness amongst the public of the potential dangers faced by residents of such buildings. A thorough investigation into this particular incident, as well as a plan to prevent similar cases from occurring was ordered by the government. The approximately four thousand buildings of the same classification that were constructed before 1960 were subsequently earmarked for inspection within one month.

Redevelopment Tong lau at 45G and 45H Ma Tau Wai Road were deemed to be structurally unsafe and subsequently sealed off. Tong lau at 45E, 45F, and some flats in 49 were closed for around half a month until reinforcement works were completed to ensure safety. Cracks appeared between buildings of 45A and 45B. Both buildings were cordoned off temporarily and reopened to tenants later. In February 2010, the Urban Renewal Authority announced redevelopment together with other blocks in the row. The project was later named “eResidence” (煥然懿居) and was finished in May 2020.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ma Tau Wai Road building collapse

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ma Tau Wai Road building collapse claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Ma Tau Wai Road building collapse before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Ma Tau Wai Road building collapse ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Ma Tau Wai Road building collapse

In research: Ma Tau Wai Road building collapse appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Ma Tau Wai Road building collapse in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Ma Tau Wai Road building collapse is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2010s in Hong Kong, Engineering failures, Scandals in Hong Kong, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ma Tau Wai Road building collapse outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Ma Tau Wai Road building collapse” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Ma Tau Wai Road building collapse in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Ma Tau Wai Road building collapse means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Ma Tau Wai Road building collapse out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ma Tau Wai Road building collapse in simple terms?

Why does Ma Tau Wai Road building collapse matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Ma Tau Wai Road building collapse?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Ma Tau Wai Road building collapse.