Collapsed bridge at Florida International University

It seems as if everyday you wake up to another tragedy around the world. From school shooting to police killings to military provocations it appears upheaval around the globe will remain commonplace. Thursday the U.S. was rocked by the collapse of a bridge at Florida International University (“FIU”), which created at least four fatalities:

At least four people died Thursday when a pedestrian bridge collapsed near Florida International University, Miami-Dade County Fire Chief Dave Downey said.

At least eight cars were crushed under the bridge and at least nine people were transported to hospitals for treatment, authorities said.

“The most important thing we can do right now is pray for the individuals who ended up in the hospital, for their full recovery, and pray for the family members who lost loved ones,” Florida Gov. Rick Scott said Thursday night.

Scott said the state would do its best to determine if any wrongdoing led to the collapse and, if so, that people would be held accountable.

The 95 ton walkway was recently installed to help boost safety on a busy street where an FIU student was fatally struck by a vehicle last year. The bridge was described as an engineering marvel. The process involved prefabricated materials that were brought to the site to cut down on time and costs of building the bridge. Less than a week before the bridge collapsed FIU issued a press release trumpeting the cutting-edge techniques used to install the 95-ton pedestrian walkway. From now it may be best to use the same materials and same engineering methods used to build bridges in the 1940s and 1950s. Those bridges are still standing, so we should honor the process.

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