The tragic collapse in Bahía Blanca. Photo X.
The merciless storm that hit Bahía Blanca on December 16, 2023 left thirteen lives lost. People who had attended a year-end skating exhibition and were victims of the fall of the ceiling of the Club Bahiense del Norte gym.
The Dantesque image of destroyed metal sheets and walls provoke pain, even more so because it is a place where sports are practiced, the birthplace of legendary basketball players like Manu GinòbiliPepe Sánchez and Alejandro Montecchia.
The magnitude of the gale was such that significant damage was also recorded in the Estudiantes Club, Olimpo and the entire region.
Faced with such unfortunate circumstances, it is worth asking whether so many deaths could have been avoided or not. Fundamentally to reason, Yes, events as painful as what happened can be foreseen and, if necessary, avoided in the future.
In more technical language, reason whether there was a fortuitous event or not (Art. 1730 CCYC) and extract some lessons from such an unfortunate event. In such order, The fortuitous event has been defined as the event that could not be foreseen or that, foreseen, could not be avoided.
That said, it should be said that although there was a warning prior to the incident, there was nothing to suggest the magnitude of the tornado that was unleashed afterwards.
It is perhaps in this aspect, where depending on technological advances and the climate change that man himself has caused, where the accuracy of weather forecasting must be significantly improved.
But that alone is not enough. If, for example, there is an orange or red alert, Citizens should be informed immediately through all existing media and networks and also be sufficiently educated to decode the message. and know that mass events are suspended and that they should avoid leaving their homes.
Then there is complementary municipal work, to be carried out during the year, for which periodic controls must be carried out on public facilities. as clubs and close them when they do not offer the minimum security conditions. Much more so if there are complaints, which allow deficiencies in this regard to be confirmed.
To the extent that the Municipality fails in such aspects, its responsibility will be at stake, as will that of the club, if it is warned of any anomaly and does not comply with its duty of protection in a timely manner.
The State is not intended to have a quasi-paternal task from which the irresponsibility of individuals emerges, but rather to make shared efforts to avoid tragedies.
So If the warnings given by the Meteorological Service are not complied with by the institutions or individuals that assume the risk, they will bear the omissive consequences of their actions.
If, on the other hand, the State is the one that does not carry out controls or respond to complaints, neglecting its police power when it should be exercised, it will be the one who bears such responsibility.
In this way, a complementary system could be achieved by which For example, a neighbor can report trees in poor condition so that they can be maintained or removed. and at the same time be ordered to carry out the necessary tasks aimed at preventing one’s own property from affecting third parties.
In this way we could think of a generic duty of prevention (Art. 1710 CCYC) articulated and joint, where not everything is delegated to the citizen or the State and there are complementary efforts aimed at avoiding the occurrence of damages.
The Bahiense tragedy must be a before and after, so that more serious work is done on the preventive care of the population, in the face of increasingly frequent natural phenomena and so that citizens act as intelligent beings aware of their own care.
*Lawyer. Prof. Nace. of Physical Education. University teacher. [email protected]