Building collapse is more common and devastating in developing world. In Nigeria, the trend is on the increase and religious houses/buildings are not left out. Buildings can be described as structural entities capable of securing self by transmitting load (dead load and live load) to the ground. A church building or religious buildings however are sacred places where believers interface with God. Paradoxically, church/religious buildings and pilgrimage sites are also now becoming places where people lose their lives as a result of accident and structural collapse. A building collapse occurs when part or whole body of a structure fails and suddenly gives way, the structure as a result of this failure, could not meet the purpose for which it was meant for. Assembly buildings (Religious buildings) account for 12.7% of building collapse in Nigeria. Most church building collapse are not often reported or recorded, except where the casualties is much and cannot be hidden from the government agencies. The Synagogue Church Building and Reigners Bible Church building collapse are recent incidents in Nigeria. The aim of this paper is to review the causes of building collapse and suggest ways of prevention as it concerns religious buildings.
Keywords: Building, Collapse, Religion., Structure, foundation
