Observations in Poland (Pawael Wiejacz ; Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland)

1) On the night of October 11, about two and a half weeks after the events, a bridge overpass
over a railway line has collapsed at Gdansk. This has paralyzed the local communication for which fast local trains between Gdansk-Sopot-Gdynia are the backbone, forcing people into cars and busses. It is uncertain whether the collapse was due to the quake. The overpass was standing there since the mid-1970s but recently it was considered in bad shape and heavy trucks have been banned from it. The collapse was not a total failure, just construction elements of the bridge fell off down onto the railway. On the following day additional steel supports have been put underneath the bridge, which has been additionally reinforced with steel rails. On October 13 morning train traffic has been resumed while on the overpass they've put a 3 ton weight limit.


2) At a construction site of a slaughterhouse and meat processing plant at Osie - that's about 53.55N, 18.40E - on Sep.21 morning they've poured down synthetic materials that are to form the floor. These materials level by themselves and form a uniform surface and solidify within hours, then they take another day or two to harden. Yet, on Sep.22 it has appeared the sufrace is cracked in many places. It is unclear whether this might be due to the quake or perhaps the construction company made some technological error, materials were faulty - or whatever.
The company Polbet that is doing the construction claims it is not their first slaughterhouse construction and something like this has never happened before and is in big trouble. They have to pour down the floor again, but the bigger problem is to remove the old floor - which is costly, troublesome and time consuming because this has to be done manually.


3) A seargant at a military base at Grupa 53.50 N, 18.60E reports he was on duty at the time of the quakes. The base facilities are very old, the seargant was at his counter where he signs in and out all the military vehicles when old rusty steel cabinets filled with all kinds of car parts and junk started trembling, the junk has slipped down against the doors, opening them from the inside and furtherly some junk fell out onto the floor.


Best regards,

Pawel