Nation in mourning with families - Berkeley disaster

AS the nation mourns the tragic deaths of six young Irish students who died when a balcony collapsed during a 21st birthday party in Berkeley, California, the burning question that has to be answered is why such a terrible calamity happened in a city built on a known geological faultline where earthquakes occur frequently.

Unfortunately, tragedies involving multiple deaths are inevitable and unpredictable, regardless of whether they are caused by murder, fire, mass drowning, a road pileup, an air disaster.

But in this case, on the face of it, overwhelmingly from all the visual evidence, it looks as if the collapse of the balcony was the result of negligence, and possibly criminal negligence. If so, either the builders or the planning authorities who allowed a clearly defective and unsafe construction project to go ahead must be held responsible. It is patently obvious this balcony was incapable of supporting 13 people, some of whom plunged 40 feet to their death while others suffered life-changing injuries in the fall.