Leaning Tower’ in Italy on ‘High Alert’ for Collapse
Agencies – Sudan Events
It’s the ‘leaning tower’ that has stood tipsily – but steadily – for nearly 1,000 years. But now, the days of the Garisenda tower in Bologna, Italy, could be numbered. Following investigations last month, the city is instigating a civil protection plan for the “sudden and unexpected collapse of the tower,” which has dominated the Bologna skyline since the 12th century.
Monitoring of the site over the past month has revealed an “unexpected and accelerated trend” of “crushing” compression to the base of the tower, with gradual disintegration of the stone used to clad the base and cracks expanding in the brick above, it says.
However, the tower isn’t on the verge of immediate collapse. “We’re acting as if it’s the worst case scenario but that’s not to say it’ll happen,” a spokesman said, adding that the precautions are currently on “yellow” alert rather than red, where collapse is imminent.
“We’re acting as if it’s about to collapse, but nobody knows when that could be – it could be three months, 10 years, or 20 years.
If there was an imminent risk of collapse we’d evacuate everyone,” he said, adding that the monitoring equipment delivers readings every 15 minutes, meaning that they should get warning of a collapse, and can evacuate the surrounding area.
