Pass city ordinances that demand regular inspections when temperatures vary widely in short periods of time and/or with chronic winds and/or flooding.

 While on the topic of Belgium, there was a building collapse in Antwerp, Belgium a couple of days ago.

I am no engineer or architect, but, it seems to me there were wide swings in temperature just before the school building under construction collapsed killing five and hospitalizing 9. 

The building collapse in Miami was not of a building under construction. I don't know how old that building was, but, it was built on land that is bordered on two sides by water.

Cities need to assess their buildings to understand their age, their composition and resiliency to weather and varying temperatures in a short period of time.

Some cities that experience severe weather on a regular basis this may not seem as much a threat. But, cities here chronic high winds and widely swinging temperatures in a matter of a couple days need to be aware of the problems that can arise.

In the past few years there have been some alarming problems due to weather, including exploding sidewalks when summer temperatures reach into the 100 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit range.

Cities should consider ordinances that require regular inspect of buildings both under construction and those already built when temperatures and wind pose a challege to stability.

June 24, 2021

Surfside, Florida - At least one person (click here) is dead and as many as 99 people unaccounted for following the collapse of a residential building in Surfside, a town near Miami.

The incident happened at about 1:30 a.m. Thursday.

According to officials, 102 people are accounted for, but 99 are still unaccounted for. 35 victims were pulled from the structure and two were pulled from the rubble, including a boy. 11 patients are being treated for their injuries.

Fire rescue officials said they have to be careful when searching because the part of the building that is still standing is also shifting.

"We're still waiting and unfortunately the hope is still there, but it is weaning," Miami-Dade Commissioner Sally Heyman said to CNN. "The rest of the search and rescue efforts has been done by man power on the outside, search on the barrier quarters, also with drones and with dogs. It has shifted now or started to shift to recovery."...

The USA needs to bring all those in Afghanistan that worked for the USA military to asylum.

NATO allies are already bringing Afghans to their countries for asylum who have assisted the NATO's military with their missions. There is no excuse for the USA. Those Afghans need to be on transport planes to come to the USA for asylum. They have intelligence about the USA and will be tortured and killed when the troops leave for home. it is vital to bring Afghans who have assisted the USA military to our country to settle along with their families.

Anyone complaining about immigration and/or asylum should be fully ashamed of themselves.

10 June 2021
By Alan Hope

The Belgian government (click here) could offer asylum to up to 30 translators who worked for Belgian troops in Afghanistan, defence minister Ludivine Dedonder (PS) has suggested.

The offer would include the Afghans’ families, and potentially remove them from the risk of suffering reprisals at the hands of a resurgent Taliban.

Dedonder was speaking at a press conference to mark the 19th anniversary of the Belgian presence in Afghanistan.

Translators – more accurately translators and fixers, as they do much more than translate from local languages into languages the troops will understand, most commonly English – are of supreme importance to foreign forces in a country like Afghanistan, where everything from the culture to the languages to the society to the landscape is utterly foreign.

Now, however, after US President Joe Biden announced a US troop withdrawal from the country, the Taliban is making a move. According to De Volkskrant in the Netherlands, the Taliban has claimed 150 victims in one day, mainly among army and police.

American troops are due to leave by the symbolic date of 11 September, exactly 20 years after the attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania that trigged the invasion....

Afghanistan

Bring these people at the very least to Guam. They assisted the USA military during a very long war and they need protection. We have lost interpreters in Afghanistan and other people who assisted our soldiers through violence. They will face tragedy if they are left behind.

There is going to be a lot of change in Afghanistan after the USA is gone. There are local militias currently acting to establish their own protections. That is the way Afghanistan operated before the war and it will operate that way after the USA leaves.

The USA has tried and tried to engage the people in a way that would bring about a stable democracy. That has worked to a certain extent, but, it is up to the people of that country now. If after twenty years there is no success in Afghanistan it is time to let the people sort everything out and live according to their means and abilities.

The USA was never successful in ending the corruption in Afghanistan and that is the peril the country still faces. With the USA gone, the commerce this country brought will end and perhaps Afghanistan will have to make hard choices that brings them to value democracy and a centralized government.

I am quite sure any rights women and girls have achieved could be lost, but, here again it will be according to how these talented ladies are valued. If the local militias appreciate their knowledge and innate abilities to achieve learning and add to the country's brain trust, then they have a chance at being part of government and the sciences that can advance Afghanistan.

Geologically, it is a difficult country for one military to protect. The mountains and mountain passes are extreme and dangerous. For that reason, the country brakes down into local authorities that have the ability to be the military and police for areas of the country. 

China and Russia may try to bring about an economy based in mining, but, without the USA to stabilize the country in a real way, the attempts to grow an economy will fail.

So, to that end, these people that have helped the USA all these years, they must be given at the very least refugee status to prepare them for life out of Afghanistan. There are many countries that were involved in that country and perhaps they can offer to give refugee families a homeland once again. But, right now, they need evacuation.

June 23, 2021
By Julia Watson and Ben Fox

San Diego - In the chaotic, final hours of the Vietnam War,(click here) the U.S. evacuated thousands of South Vietnamese who supported the American mission and were at risk under the communist government.

With U.S. and NATO forces facing a Sept. 11 deadline to leave Afghanistan, many are recalling that desperate, hasty exodus as they urge the Biden administration to evacuate thousands of Afghans who worked as interpreters or otherwise helped U.S. military operations there in the past two decades.

Despite unusual bipartisan support in Congress, the administration hasn’t agreed to such a move, declining to publicly support something that could undermine security in the country as it unwinds a war that started after the 9/11 attacks.

“We have a moral obligation to protect our brave allies who put their lives on the line for us, and we’ve been working for months to engage the administration and make sure there’s a plan, with few concrete results,” Republican Rep. Peter Meijer of Michigan said during a House hearing last week....