all because gentrification in form matters more than human lives

People of like culture have often joined the same community intentionally. How many Chinatowns can you think of? Little Italy? Astoria? Koreatown?

Google - check on the non-fire resistant cladding that was used for the gentrification look.

From what I've read, regulations required better exterior cladding, required that every apartment be fire walled to withstand fire for an hour, and required fire alarms. No one checked the cladding, no one made sure the fire walls were restored after the refurbishment, and no one made sure fire alarms were functional and audible throughout the building.

Those three things might have saved dozens of lives. A change in policy that did not ask people to stay in place when there was a fire could have helped also but ONLY if the fire alarms had been working and loud enough to be heard inside every apartment.

I hope cities all over the world look at this tragedy and examine why it happened. From what we have been told so far relatively low costs would have saved most of the lives lost and kept so many from serious injuries.

Fire proofing stayed in place. Conventional designs are also more robust - the towers had a unique design to maximize floor space but it ultimately failed.

This story is not about that.

I have been keeping up with this story, because it resonates what happens way too often, when things are done on the cheap, especially where less-privileged are concerned. And WHY in the hell were they told to stay put? They didn't have fire safety doors it seems, so why were they told to not leave. Any fire safety expert (that I've ever heard speak about this) would tell you to get the hell out--as fast as you can!

It's so heartbreaking what these people have gone through, along with their grief-stricken relatives.

for that building is not atypical of public housing projects. Nobody really cares about poor people. That, to me, is the real problem that cost so many lives. Someone should be under arrest, I believe. Perhaps multiple people.

The plastic coating on the cladding was highly flammable and they have banned it's use in Germany and the US. Also, I just read this morning that even the high rises in downtown London had banned using it for their buildings. (I need to find that link again for clarity)

I wrote a cynical poem years ago for a writing class about how the "little people" mean nothing in this world...", and at the time it was so poignant in my life. Little did I know that years later that specific poem would be my first thought after hearing this. I had hoped by now we would be better at making sure the "little people" didn't fall through the cracks.

It just breaks my heart.

This makes me so angry and sad. So many lives lost and destroyed because the under-privileged aren't considered to be worth the extra expense and effort to keep them safe.