An Assessment of Building Collapse Characteristics and Suspected Causes of Collapse in Lagos State and Abuja - Nigeria

Abstract

The spate of building collapse in Nigeria has continually been on the increase over the years. This study assessed collapsed building characteristics (such as location, usage, number of floors, and number of casualties/fatalities) and suspected causes of building collapse in Lagos State and Abuja. Charts and percentages were employed as descriptive analysis while Spearman correlation was used to determine the relationship between variables. A sample of 55 cases of building collapse was drawn from the study area. The study found out that residential and commercial buildings were more prone to collapse, the numbers of collapsed buildings have been on the increase, and that structural failure was a major cause of building collapse. It was concluded that suspected causes of building collapse have a significant impact on characteristics of collapsed buildings. It was recommended that advanced laboratory facilities should be made available to conduct autopsies on collapsed buildings which would reveal the minute details of the collapse.