Comments by "Mat Broomfield" (@matbroomfield) on "Bridge swept away as melting glacier causes flooding in Pakistan - BBC News" video.

  1. "You'd think this was a rare occurrence, but in Pakistan, it isn't." So multimillion dollar bridges are routinely collapsing across Pakaistan? I find that hard to believe.
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  2.  @akhashdhillon2159  Do you have reasons to be skeptical about Chinese engineering?
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  3.  B-Alif  Yes, that doesn't surprise me.
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  4.  @Kioki1-x8p  I get the point you're making, but bridges in California are built to withstand earthquakes because that's something within the rang eof possibility for that part of the world. I'd have thought the ability to withstand flash floods would be within the design parameters of a bridge. That said, I guess it could be that the surrounding TERRAIN was what failed, destroying its foundations.
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  5.  @Kioki1-x8p  Bad example that only serves to support my case. Japan's nuclear plant was built on the cheap, below code, and was not maintained. People are in prison right now for the fact that it was NOT built to agreed upon safety standards that indeed WOULD have protected it. The government KNEW that tsunamis in that location were a possibility, and wrote a construction code that was ignored by the private contractors that built and operated it. "Most infrastructures are made for basic functions" You are mistaken. There is a huge additional tolerance built in. Dams are designed to withstand 500 year highs, buildings are designed in prone areas to withstand earthquakes, bridges are designed to withstand excessive loads, winds and water flows. The amount by which structures are built to exceed normal daily conditions depends upon the budget, local regulations, and the severity of impact if the structure fails. Clearly you don't make a garden shed nuclear proof, but a school for instance, might be built to higher level of gale resistance than a small corner store.
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  6.  @Kioki1-x8p  I suspect that you are right, which is why I would expect one of the few to be built to high standards. But as you point out, standards in poor countries are often abysmal.
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