Benkunsk appreciated the evacuated apartment building in Vilnius – the house is truly exceptional

V. Benkunskas stated that the experts made the decision to evacuate all residents of the house on Monday night.

“Yesterday afternoon was long, around 7 in the afternoon a message was received on the General Attention Line about possible deformed structures in a residential house on Gabijos street. Then all the emergency services arrived, they assessed the initial situation, defects visible to the naked eye on the staircase of an apartment building near the place of the elevator. And the specialists of the Fire Protection Service made the decision to evacuate the house, to ask the residents to leave the house for their safety, ”said V. Benkunskas.

He confirmed that the initial survey shows that there are no obvious threats to the security of the house.

“In the first place, the neighbors were attended to so that the house was empty. This was followed by an expert examination, and the experts arrived, inspected and assessed the initial state of the situation. Today, we have the conclusion of the “5 minute” exam, which says that certain visually visible defects in the house have been fixed. But no obvious threats to the safety of the construction of the house have been identified, which would endanger the residents, “said V. Benkunskas.

The Vilnius deputy mayor said that residents of this house were offered to use the hotel provided by the municipality on Monday evening, but most of them chose to spend the night with their family and friends.

“It just came to our knowledge then. The house has 72 apartments, more than 100 inhabitants. Now we are waiting for the final conclusion from the experts, which must be signed by the experts, then the permit must be approved by the police and then it will be reported. to residents that residents can return to their apartments, ”Vilnius’s deputy mayor said Tuesday morning.

He admitted there was a scare Monday night.

“Of course, the late and dark hour of the day caused some fright among the population. But they reacted fairly quickly, there were no objections. Everyone realized that this was a real threat and that security required those officers to follow instructions. It was really very disciplined for everyone to be evacuated. The services did a great job, there were no problems here, ”said the interviewee.

“If residents are allowed to return to their apartments immediately, then those problems or inconveniences will end there,” said the interlocutor from “Delfi rytas.”

V. Benkunskas said that it is still difficult to say what caused this deformation of the house.

“The apartment building is a recent 17-year-old house. But it is already well known by the Vilnius City Municipality, several times due to similar situations it was necessary to carry out expert reports, a few years ago the shopping center located in this house was also evicted due to the possible threat of breakage of the structure. Additional column fortifications were made at that time. As a non-expert in that house, I had to go to various apartments of the inhabitants, cracks and fissures are seen. They are not normal in conditions normal.

Definitely that house is exceptional due to construction defects. Now we will take a closer look at the history of this house: how many forensic analyzes were performed, how many acts of defects were performed, and how they were handled. But the house is exceptional due to its low-quality construction, which causes more serious alarm signals from time to time during its operation, ”said V. Benkunskas, deputy mayor of the capital.

The interlocutor of the program “Delfi rytas” assured that it is too early to talk about possible compensation for residents.

We have the warranty terms provided in the Construction Law, which in this case apparently have already expired. But here there is already the question of civil proof. If there are hidden deficiencies that were not visible several years ago, they can be proven in court. This is what we will definitely provide residents with all the information, both technical and legal, and we will endeavor to establish such illegal or negligent activities by builders to help residents recover and claim damages, “promised the deputy mayor. from Vilnius.

V. Benkunskas assured that the municipality supervises all the apartment buildings with problems.

“In Vilnius we have more than 9 thousand. Apartment building. This is everything among them, especially the old construction of apartment buildings, which were built in the Soviet years with great problems. It is a never-ending process of taking care of those houses, managing them, constantly monitor its status. For us, the health and safety of the population is paramount. In this case, it is the city as an institution that does the work it should do, “said Vilnius’ deputy mayor on Tuesday morning.

The Fire and Rescue Department told BNS Monday night that residents had been evacuated from the building on a street cracked by the wall of an apartment building. A notification was received about Gabijos Street. 30 cracks in the stairwell and some apartments.

According to Deputy Mayor V. Benkunskas on Monday, about 100 people were evacuated from the apartment building, according to preliminary data. Podersky told BNS later Monday that the house had a total of 72 apartments, of which “between 100 and 200 inhabitants” had been evacuated.

The structures that support the house are not damaged.

2004 The construction of the building house consists of a full reinforced concrete frame and smooth monolithic roofs. The longitudinal frame with the beams protruding under the floor ensures the longitudinal stability of the building. Meanwhile, the interior of the house, and hence the stair walls, are made of silicate brick masonry. The partitions are made of 10 cm thick plasterboard, masonry and plasterboard.

During the inspection, Vytautas Elenbergas, an expert on a building and special project, found that the structures supporting the house were not damaged and that the deformations recorded were local in nature. According to the expert, they are related to the damage of construction technology due to poor installation of floor coverings, as well as the lack of installation of mandatory deformation joints in partitions and other measures.

The stone tiles, the rebounding of which frightened the inhabitants, were glued of poor quality. However, this defect has nothing to do with the deformation of the case. According to the expert, the cracks in the walls are not related to the deformation of the structures, they are observed only in the dividing walls.

The housing manager will inform residents about the possibility of returning home by phone, email, and on the housing manager’s system in the next hour.

After the technical inspection, the Vilnius City Municipality will oblige the apartment building managers to check the cracks, inspect each apartment and assess the current situation, as well as order the examination of the building’s load-bearing structures, determine the causes of cracks. The housing manager must commit to making recommendations on the identified reasons for the liquidation.