Five bodies have been recovered while another is believed to still be under the debris of a shopping mall and movie theatre that was going up in Santiago city. The building was at Avenida Salvador Estrella Sadhala and Juan Pablo Duarte. The toppling of the building brings to the forefront the government’s inability to enforce the building codes. News reports indicate the Santiago City Government, the Ministry of Public Works and the College of Engineers and Architects (CODIA) had all objected to the building because structural provisions were not adequate. A subterranean river is known to pass below the site. But the builders did not heed the orders to stop construction. The building collapsed on Saturday, 28 April, at around 10 pm. The deceased include a woman and four men who were on the construction site after hours. News reports indicate some of the men were playing dominoes and one person actually lived on the construction site. Gustavo Turull, owner of the building, told the Listin Diario that he had not been notified that the building had construction defects. Turull said RD$18 million had been invested in the construction and the theaters were to have been ready by June. The Palacio del Cine would have housed eight movie halls of various capacities. The engineer, Horacio Alvarez, told the newspaper they had all their construction permits. Santiago Governor Victor Mendez says there was negligence in the application of the law.
