translated from Spanish: NGOs demand review not to repeat case Rebsamen

A almost a year from the collapse of the Enrique Rebsamen College by the earthquake of September 19, where killed 19 children and 7 adults, educational authorities and of the city of Mexico not have reported on the State where are the other schools, and if they comply with the current safety standards, according to a study by the non-profit zero impunity.
Analysis on the responsibilities of the various actors in the Rebsamen case details that it was built in 1983, not complied with the regulation of constructions created two years after the 1985 earthquake, as well as in 2009 are you He added a fourth floor, which added 225 tons, without reinforced structural design.
“There are records documentary that authorities identified the illegality of the work and the risk of it, they even closed it on two occasions, but such work continued and culminated, despite irregularities and the risk posed, and without reasoning technical one was validated by DROs and CSEs [Directores Responsables de Obra y Corresponsables de Seguridad Estructural]; “what denotes a responsibility not only to the owners of the school but also to the authorities which, by action or omission, allowed irregular work was built and even validated”, the report said.
For this reason, an official review considers urgent schools built before that date by all involved with the educational infrastructure – the Secretariat of public education (SEP), the National Institute of physical education) INIFE), the Secretariat of urban development and housing (SEDUVI), the Institute for the safety of the buildings of the CDMX and the delegations.
“To make sure that (which are independently or not with approval of operation and constancy of structural safety) these facilities have been adequate, modified or strengthened, in accordance with the current technical regulations on security” structural construction”, according to the report.
To force this to happen, there is a lawsuit filed. Families of the children who died were from last April collective action (a legal figure that allows a lawsuit group) that it not only seeks compensation for the owners of the collapsed school, they claimed the authorities that check all schools prior to 1987 and require them the educational infrastructure of the INIFE certificate, to make sure that they are safe schools, and will not happen a tragedy.
“We don’t have news that is made, and somehow the parent that is the important point, to them, it hurts that Mexico is the country of not nothing, and that these tragedies may occur when there was a notorious negligence, insofar as it allowed to be” an kinds in a defective construction. The authorities, who already had been identified, even closed twice the expansion of the College, had allowed classes occur when they had already seen that there was a risk “, explained in interview one of lawyers of the Barra Mexicana carrying case, Julio Gutiérrez.
Responsible: both authorities as society report “to a year of the 19-S: responsibilities arising from the earthquakes” designates three types of decision makers in the landslides which caused 228 deaths by last year’s earthquake: the authorities, the auxiliaries of the (DROs and CSEs) authority and society, represented by the builders and anyone who owns a property.
In the case of the Rebsamen, targeting the Tlalpan delegation, the Seduvi, the Institute for the safety of constructions of the DF, SEP, the directors of work, and as owners of the school, the societies Enrique R S.C. and middle school Enrique Rebsamen.
“The damages generated in the Rebsamen College from the quake occurred September 19, 2017, were not caused by the quake, but it were cause of irregular and illegal acts relating to construction, renovation, modification and building the construction” .
However, so far there is only an arrested person, the Director of Obra Juan Mario Velarde, captured in July last and related to process.
The Attorney General of Justice of the city determine then delegated Tlalpan and today head of Government elected, Claudia Sheinbaum, and according to Gutierrez, which calls is the responsibility of the delegation as an institution. While the owner of the school, Mónica García Villegas, is a fugitive and there is a tab of capture against, and the rest of his family is also hidden, says the lawyer, and they have only been able to notify them of demand through his lawyer.
“But what is more serious is that there has been an acknowledgement of responsibilities and, of course, nor compensation derived from those responsibilities. Only supports minor, very minor”, adds Gutierrez.
How determined is the compensation for a death?
The families of the 19 children killed in the collapse of the Rebsamen have not received compensation for what happened.
Gutierrez explains that collective action filed claims reparation of damage to parents, siblings, and grandparents of the children, but there is a set amount, because the judge determines it at the end of the trial in a discretionary manner, for which has to take into account the psychological and emotional damage suffered by the relatives.
“There is a precedent of the Supreme Court that says that you can have, this moral damages, punitive scope. “What is?, which has to be the sufficiently large, burdensome, so behaviors that are claiming, discourages strong enough really is so think twice the way in which they operate”, details.
As example the case of a young man who died in a hotel because he was electrocuted in their facilities, and the compensation was 30 million, not because that’s worth the life of a person, but thinking that given the economic capacity of the hotel, that amount would discourage to be let pass future negligence.

Original source in Spanish